Beautiful Geek
by SummerEliza
Summary: Lindsay has a very obvious crush on Noah and needs some help winning him over. Of course, being a geek just isn't that easy, especially when you're suddenly thrust into a new school!
1. Transformation

Disclaimer: I do not own Total Drama Island. (Is it just me, or do I repeat myself a lot?)

* * *

"What's a Decepticon?" Lindsay asked the table. Harold and Cody stared at her in disbelief while Noah started to laugh hysterically.

"Malibu Barbie wouldn't know that kind of thing!" Noah said, chuckling.

Lindsay pouted. "I would know if you'd just explain it to me! Whenever I ask a question, you guys don't answer."

"We just can't believe you don't know that kind of thing," Cody explained.

"Seriously," Harold said.

"Just go fry your hair some more, Barbie," Noah said.

She crossed her arms and stalked away. "Meanies!" she yelled at them. Noah snickered.

* * *

"Beth, where are you?" Lindsay called. She looked around the plaza of the Playa de Losers. "Beth?"

"Lindsay?" Beth stuck her head around the back of the armchair she was sitting in. She caught sight of Lindsay and flashed her a brace-less smile.

Lindsay walked closer to her BFFF. "Beth, I need some friend advice. You know, friend to friend."

Beth put down her book and paid full attention to Lindsay. "Shoot."

Lindsay took a deep breath. "Well, I have this guy that I like-"

"Noah," Beth interrupted her.

Lindsay looked shocked. "How did you know?"

"I have psychic powers!" Beth started humming the Twilight Zone theme. "Just joking," she said quickly when she saw Lindsay's confused expression. "No, I just noticed that you're always hanging around him. Actually, everyone's noticed it."

"Really?" Lindsay asked.

"Well, except Noah. You think he'd have noticed it when you tried to protect him from that bear in the second season. Or when you had to kiss him for that challenge in the third season. Or in the episode where you were kicked off in this season when you clung onto him when Chris tried to kick you off the island. Or-"

"Stop it! I get the point," Lindsay said. She frowned. "I thought I was subtle."

Beth gave her a surprised look. "Nice word!"

Lindsay giggled. "I think he's rubbing off on me."

"You sure that's a good thing?"

"Don't talk mean about him! He's really nice, and smart, and funny!"

Beth held her hands up in an "I surrender" pose. "Sorry, sorry. What did you want advice for exactly?"

Lindsay sighed. "Well, he doesn't exactly pay very much attention to me. Am I not pretty enough? Should I show more cleavage?"

"Lindsay, you're really pretty! No more cleavage. Remember what your dad said about your outfit on the third season."

"But I wanted Noah to pay attention to meeee!" Lindsay whined. "And then I was stuck in that getup for the whole season because of that stupid contract. I still don't get why we had to wear the same thing every day."

"Why they did that I will never know," Beth said. "But what do you and Noah talk about?"

"Not much," Lindsay admitted. "Whenever I talk to him he ends up getting mad at me. I don't think we have very much in common."

Suddenly, an idea occurred to Beth and her face lit up. "We can fix that," she said slowly. She nods slowly, a devious smile growing on her face. "How badly do you want Noah to like you?"

"I'll do anything," Lindsay says without hesitation.

"_Then I'll need some help. __**She**__ might be the best choice," Beth thought._

_

* * *

_

Harold, Cody, and Noah were lounging on the beach chairs that were near the pool. "You know, Lindsay hasn't been hanging around us recently," Harold commented.

"You're right! I kind of miss the eye candy," Cody mused.

Noah rolled his eyes. _"Why am I friends with them again? Oh wait, I actually like them." He sighed internally. "Thankfully, except for comments like that, they can be pretty fun to hang out with. After I got Harold to stop talking about prairie animals I found out that he actually has __**something**__ in common with me."_

"I actually haven't seen her at all in the past few days," Harold said. "Noah, do you know anything about it?"

Noah gave Harold a weird look. "Why would I know?"

"Dude, the only reason she hangs with us is because of you."

Noah laughed. "You're kidding right?" He looked at his friends' dead serious faces. _"They're kidding, right?"_

_

* * *

_

"Not good enough!" Izzy yelled. She cackled and rubbed her hands together. "Back to the beginning!"

Lindsay was too tired to complain. She stared at the screen, panting. She moved her right foot first and started to hit the arrows that showed on the screen in the sequence that they appeared.

* * *

"_Now I'm getting worried," Noah thought. "I haven't seen hair nor hide of Lindsay for a week now. She hasn't even come down to eat anything. I haven't seen Izzy either. This is really suspicious."_

* * *

"Just one more song! If you finish this one, you can eat," Izzy told Lindsay. She held up a burger tauntingly. Lindsay looked at it longingly. Izzy pressed a button on the guitar Lindsay was holding and selected _Through the Fire and Flames._ "Go for it." Lindsay stared at the screen, determined to get 100% before the day was out.

* * *

"_This is just weird. I haven't seen her for two weeks now!" Noah thought. _He pounded on Lindsay's door. "Lindsay?" he called. There was no answer.

* * *

Izzy adjusted her fake glasses and read from a book. "When and where was Shakespeare born?" she asked.

Lindsay smiled confidently. "He is believed to have been born in Stratford- upon- Avon in his parents' house. While his exact birth date is not known, it is a custom in Elizabethan society to have their children baptized three days after their birth. Thus, his birthday has been set as April 23, 1864."

"Correct," Izzy said sternly. "What are two themes of the play, Hamlet?"

"Erm," Lindsay said slowly.

"Wrong!" Izzy shouted. She smacked the desk Lindsay was sitting in with a ruler. It made a loud thwack that made Lindsay jump. "Ten Chuck Norris's!"

Lindsay stood up. "One- If you have five dollars and Chuck Norris has five dollars, Chuck Norris has more money. Two- Chuck Norris destroyed the periodic table, because he only recognizes the element of surprise. Three- Chuck Norris can kill two stones with one bird. Four- Chuck Norris is the reason why Waldo is hiding. Five- Chuck Norris does not sleep." She took a deep breath and continued.

"He waits. Six- Chuck Norris does not "style" his hair. It lays perfectly in place out of sheer terror. Seven- Chuck Norris is currently suing NBC, claiming Law and Order are trademarked names for his left and right legs. Eight- Chuck Norris does not get frostbite. Chuck Norris bites frost. Nine- When Chuck Norris does a pushup, he isn't lifting himself up, he's pushing the Earth down. Ten- The original draft of The Lord of the Rings featured Chuck Norris instead of Frodo Baggins. It was only 5 pages long, as Chuck roundhouse-kicked Sauron's ass halfway through the first chapter." She smiled at Izzy hopefully.

Izzy smirked. "You have done well young grasshopper."

* * *

"_Three weeks," he thought. "That's pushing it. Maybe I could call someone for help?" _He saw Courtney walking down the halls brandishing a candelabra. _"So that's why I haven't seen Harold today. God, the girl can't let go of a grudge!" _He waved. "Hey, Courtney, do you know where there's a pay phone?"

She paused for a moment. "Chris took the thing out after Duncan made a prank call to the police claiming that he was being held captive here." She rolls her eyes and smiles fondly at the same time.

"_Well, who would I call anyway?"he thought._

* * *

Lindsay stared at the screen intently. "Enjoying the show? Dollhouse is good, isn't it?" Izzy asked.

"It's actually pretty interesting," Lindsay commented.

"Make sure you pay attention. You have to log on to a chat room later and have an intelligent conversation afterwards. Otherwise…" Izzy paused and grinned maniacally. "You don't get to eat."

* * *

"Beth?" Noah knocked on Beth's door. "Are you there?"

The door opened a crack and Beth stuck her head out. "What do you want Noah?" she asked.

"_Oh, great. I don't even know what to say. What exactly am I so worried about here? It's not like I care," Noah thought. _

He hesitated for a moment. "Umm, never mind."As she closed the door he caught sight of a large mannequin in the center of her room. _"What is she doing?" he thought._

* * *

"What does SOF stand for?" Izzy asked.

"Soldier of Fortune. Duh," Lindsay said sarcastically.

"Sarcasm. Extra two points." Izzy nodded appreciatively. She turned to Beth. "I think she's ready."

"Do I get to eat now?" Lindsay asked hopefully.

"Not yet," Izzy replied. "We still have to give you a makeover and style tips." Lindsay sighed.

Beth gasped. "She's not excited about a makeover? What did you do to her Izzy?"

"That's why I didn't let you watch her training," Izzy muttered. Beth glared at her.

* * *

Beth unlocked the door to her room. "Tah dah!" she yelled. Lindsay looked at the mannequin in the room in amazement. "I kind of modified the geeky theme so that it wouldn't look like a total change from before…."

"Wow, Beth, you are such a budding fashionista!" she said.

"That didn't sound right," Beth said.

Lindsay cringed away from Izzy. Beth glared at Izzy. Izzy shrugged. "What?" she asked. "She didn't complain."

* * *

Noah absentmindedly ate his cornflakes, staring off into the distance.

"Noah, what do you think?" Cody asked. "Noah? Hello, earth to Noah!"

"What?" Noah asked.

"Don't expect anything. You won't get a coherent answer out of him even when you've got his attention," Harold said to Cody. "Lindsay being missing is really bothering him."

"You know I can hear you, right?" Noah said, slightly annoyed.

"Hey, you haven't been paying attention to anything we've been saying recently," Harold said. "But anyway, we-" His voice trailed off. His eyes got as big as saucers as he stared at something behind Noah's back. Cody saw the same thing as Harold and had the same reaction.

"Guys? What?" Noah asked. He turned around and saw what had shocked them so much.

Lindsay was walking towards them looking very……. different to say the least. Her large blue eyes were partially hidden behind a pair of plastic frame glasses. She was wearing an orange t-shirt with the neck cut off that said Vote for Pedro and a black layered skirt. Her usual cowboy boots were gone and in their place were a pair of orange high top Converse. To top it all off, she had on a black fleece hat with cat ears. She sat at the table next to Noah, unaware of the fact that every eye in the room was trained on her. "Hey guys! Did you miss me?" she asked.

"You disappeared," Noah said slowly. He was having a small problem getting his brain to function. Cody and Harold had lost all ability to talk coherently.

"Well, absence makes the heart grow fonder," Lindsay remarked casually. Everyone's mouths dropped open.

"_Since when does Lindsay say stuff like that?" Noah thought._

* * *

A/N: Wow, I'm not doing too well here. I just started a new story. I started another new one last week. I worked on that on all week and ignored all my other stories. Then, I became really busy this weekend and didn't have an entire day to catch up with all of my stories. GAH! I need to write all my other stories...... And then I came up with this idea :)

Just a note for those who want everything to make sense. (Not me but hey, whatever you want.) In this story, TDA does not exist. It is a totally different set of seasons with different drama and stuff. That I might get into later.

Man, I like Lindsay in fanon couplings too much. First my Trindsay, then my Zesay (Zeke/Lindsay... whatever that's called), and now this? I need to finish both of the stories with her in them QUICKLY because I meant for all of them to be one-shots. This one ended up having a point where I wanted to make a new chapter..... I'm planning on doing all the other chapters in a different format, becuase this was the set-up chapter. My other story..... don't get me started on that one. I've gotten stuck. I hope to finish it sooooometime.

(Hey, if you actually read that rant above here, I give you kudos. YAY! Good for you. :o You're amazing.)

Here's the link for the hat that Lindsay's wearing- www. /products /fleecehat

Remember, the whole thing is black.


	2. PWNED!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Total Drama Island, sadly. **

**Also, a quick note before I begin. This chapter will have a large, in-depth description of a video game. Just to warn you.**

**

* * *

**

Harold reattached his jaw with some difficulty. "L-lindsay," he stuttered. "You look…. different."

Lindsay smiled sweetly. "I don't know what you're talking about, Harold. I don't look that different than normal." Everyone's eyes defied the laws of physics and managed to get a little bit wider.

"You remembered my name!" Harold said excitedly.

"Hmmm." She smiled happily. "I guess I did!" Suddenly her face falls a little bit as she remembers something not so enjoyable.

* * *

"Iris, are you going to let me have a break?" Lindsay asked.

Izzy frowned. "We're going to have to fix that problem."

"Fix what?" Lindsay asked, genuinely confused.

Izzy sighed. She pulled out a board with pictures of all of the contestants on it out from the ceiling.

Lindsay gasped. "Where did that come from?"

Izzy ignored the question and used her ruler to point at Gwen's picture. "Who is this?" she asks. She taps her foot impatiently.

Lindsay screwed her face up in concentration. "Ummmmmm…. Greta?"

Izzy smacks Lindsay's desk with her ruler, making Lindsay flinch. "Wrong! Her name is Gwen." She moves her ruler up and points to a new picture. "Who's this?"

"O… ow…."

"No! His name is Stinky Bastardface Ex-boyfriend!" Izzy growls and rips Owen's picture to shreds. She takes a deep, calming breath and points to a new picture.

"That's easy. That's Noah," Lindsay says dreamily. She sighs and swoons. "He's sooooo hot."

Izzy considers his picture. "Yeah, he is kind of hot. Nice hair."

Lindsay glared at her. "He's mine!" she tells Izzy assertively.

"Don't worry, if I just wanted a guy with nice hair then I'd go for Justin."

* * *

"Okay, that is so not worth the title of a good classic game. The character doesn't even have good moves in Smash Bros.," Cody argued.

"No way, Mr. Game and Watch is amazing! Who else can pull out a frying pan and kill people with it?" Harold said loudly.

"It's just weird," Noah said scornfully.

"Yeah, Kirby is so much more awesome," Lindsay said. Harold and Cody gave her surprised looks, still not used to her.

Noah turned a withering face on her. "Really? Seriously? Kirby is just a giant pink puffball. The best thing about him is that he can avoid getting beat up by flying away," he scoffed.

Lindsay crossed her arms and smiled. "I could cream you with Kirby!" she said playfully.

"Do I smell a challenge?" Noah asked.

"That you do," Lindsay said.

* * *

"Lindsay, you need to make sure you know all of the proper lingo," Izzy explained. "You have five minutes to learn all of the phrases on that sheet and how to use them." Izzy looked at her stopwatch. "Aaaand, go!" She clicked the start button and Lindsay started to study furiously.

"Cream. A verb meaning to Pwn. However, it is less awesome than pwning," she muttered, memorizing. "Pwn. A verb meaning to own. Own. To win against someone epically. For example: I owned you at Mario Kart! Epic. To be awesome, almost to the point of Chuck Norris. Made of win. Used to describe how something is epic and has no faults. For example: That game is made of win. I love it so much!"

Izzy snickered at Lindsay's super serious face. _"How she doesn't find this ridiculous, I will never know," Izzy thought._

_

* * *

_

Izzy slammed the ruler on the desk. Lindsay started, surprised. "Test time!" Izzy yelled. "We will have a conversation using a term every time you speak." Lindsay nodded. "I'm going to cream you at SOF!" Izzy bellowed.

"No way," Lindsay said unsurely. "You're so sucktastic at that game."

Izzy nodded in approval. "Uh-uh. I totally pwned you last time! It was epic."

"Denied," Lindsay said, getting into it. "That game is made of win but you sure ain't!"

Izzy smashed her ruler on the floor, breaking it into two pieces. "Fail!" she screamed. "You can't use made of win like that! It sounds weird. And what's with 'ain't?"

Lindsay cringed away from her. "Well, you made me read To Kill a Mockingbird out loud earlier and all the talking was like that!"

* * *

Noah, Lindsay, Cody, and Harold walked into the media room and hooked up the Wii. "They have Brawl here but not Melee," Harold explained.

Lindsay pouted. "But Melee is classic! Or it's classicer than Brawl."

Noah snorted in derision. "Classicer?"

Lindsay laughed sheepishly and grabbed a controller. The three others followed suit. Cody moved them through the main menu to the character select. "Everyone wants to play stock?" Cody asked.

Noah sighed dramatically and put his hand on his heart. "If you insist." Cody snickered. They started to pick their characters. "Cody, no, don't pick the Ice Climbers again. You know they suck and you know you suck using them. Give up!" Noah advised him theatrically.

Cody rolled his eyes. "I'm determined to win with them at least once!"

Noah eyed Harold after her made his choice. "Harold, I swear, if you sit around just using the A button attack then I will come after you." He shot Harold a glare jokingly.

"But Sheik's A moves are so cool," Harold whined.

"I agree," Lindsay said.

Noah smirked. "Lindsay, you're using Kirby, you have no right to talk about coolness."

"Noaaaah, Kirby is so cool. He's pink! What's not to love?" Lindsay cooed.

"Exactly. He's pink." Noah frowned. "Cool things are not pink."

Lindsay shook a finger at him. "And that's where you're wrong."

"I hate to interrupt this scintillating argument, but we'd like to start," Harold interrupted them. He pressed a button, starting the game.

Captain Falcon (Noah), Kirby (Lindsay), Princess Zelda (Harold), and the Ice Climbers (Cody) appeared on the Pictochat stage.

"Game on," Harold said loudly. They immediately started in an all out brawl. Noah shot Captain Falcon over in a Falcon Punch but missed Lindsay. He ended up hitting the Ice Climbers instead. She had used Kirby to her advantage and had floated high above them. Cody used the Ice Climber's hammers to knock Princess Zelda around. Lindsay turned into a Thwomp and crashed down on all three of them.

"Wah!" Cody yelled. Noah snickered. Music played on the screen as Princess Zelda transformed into Sheik. Sheik started to pummel Captain Falcon.

"Harold," Noah growled. He shot Harold a look that could have killed. Or at least, it could have killed those who didn't know him well. Harold just chuckled. Sheik was soon stopped from pummeling Captain Falcon by a certain pink puffball beating her up. Cody attempted to hit Kirby but Lindsay blocked his attack. Kirby pulled out a hammer and smacked Sheik into oblivion.

"Shoot," Harold cursed.

"Eat ice!" Cody yelled. He sent ice across the stage. It hit Captain Falcon.

"One word Cody," Noah said dryly. "Pathetic."Cody glowered at him and Noah laughed.

"I got a gun! I got a gun!" Harold sang badly. "I got a gun yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!" It was true, Sheik now was holding a gun. She started to shoot the Ice Climbers but was interrupted by Kirby turning into a spike ball and falling on him. "Hey!" Harold yelled. "My singing wasn't that bad!"

"Yes it was," Noah told him. "Yes it was."

Sheik started to shoot Captain Falcon. "I got a gun! I got a gun!"

"It's the sequel!" Cody said cleverly.

"You got two guns now, Tighty Whitey?" Noah asked.

"You know I don't like you calling me that!" Harold said, annoyed. "Gosh!" Noah used the Falcon Punch and pushed Sheik to the left where Kirby punched her. Sheik flew and crashed into the camera.

"I'm not doing that bad!" Cody said gleefully. Lindsay chose that moment to fall on him with the cutter and send him flying away.

"Oooh, look! The shiny glowy magic orb!" Lindsay said excitedly.

"The what?" Noah asked, snickering.

"Izzy rubs off on you after a while," Lindsay muttered.

"What'd you say?" Cody asked.

"It was a rhetorical question," Noah said snidely. "That's when you don't answer."

"I know what rhetorical means, silly!" Lindsay chirped. The orb bounced and flew into the air. Kirby jumped onto the tree that had just been drawn and grabbed it. Captain Falcon tried to jump and knock her out before she could use the power but was blocked by the tree.

"Stupid trees," he muttered.

A giant pot appeared by Kirby and he clanged two frying pans above his head. The three other characters flew into the pot and Kirby started to cook them. They shot out of the pot and simultaneously died.

"Player two defeated," the game announced.

"Dang!" Harold said. "Whose idea was it to only have three lives?"

"You set it genius," Noah told him. He used the Raptor Attack to try and hit Kirby. Kirby blocked it and turned around and drop kicked him off the platform. He died.

Kirby sucked up the Ice Climbers. "Oh, wait. I don't want their move. It's kind of stupid," Lindsay commented. She spit them over the edge. The Ice Climbers used their recovery move and shot themselves back onto the platform. Kirby pulled out the hammer and smacked them far far away, where they could not recover.

"Player three defeated," the game announced.

"I didn't get last place, I didn't get last place!" Cody sang.

Kirby turned around and sucked up Captain Falcon. He stole Captain Falcon's move and spit him out over the edge. Captain Falcon just barely hung onto the platform. He pulled himself up but Kirby Falcon punched him over the edge. Captain Falcon used the up punch and shot himself onto the platform again. He landed behind Kirby and flipped backwards away. He threw himself at Kirby using the Raptor Boost. Kirby jumped out of the way and Captain Falcon fell off the edge. The wind started to blow and Noah watched Captain Falcon fall to his death in slow motion.

"Yay! I won!" Lindsay said happily. She shook her controller in victory.

"Player one defeated," the game announced.

The three guys looked shocked that Lindsay had beaten them at their own game. "Fluke," Harold muttered. Cody and Noah nodded in agreement. However, that theory was disproved when they looked at the stats and saw that every kill had been Kirby's except for the one where Noah had accidentally killed himself.

Lindsay started punching Noah in the shoulder playfully. "Come on! Admit it! Kirby's a great character."

Noah was not currently capable of speech, as his mouth was still open in shock.

* * *

Yes! A new chappie! I give credit to a youtube video for a lot of the banter during the game. :) I can't put the link up because fanfiction won't let me.... :( But trust me, it was funny.


	3. Mmmmm

Disclaimer: I don't own Total Drama Island. However, I do own my imagination and all of it's figaments. It think that's pretty darn good, don't you?

**A/N: IMPORTANT! I have attempted a new style in this chapter. I'm actually doing it from the character's points of view. Sadly, I don't know if I'll be able to keep it consistantly in this format. Do you guys mind? Some of the storyline requires a format that can look at all of the characters reactions without bias from anyone but the author. :)**

**If you're going to review, please at least mention the new style and what you think about it. Point out any conflicting tenses please.**

* * *

**Noah's POV**

"Okay guys," Chris announces. He looks all of us. "We've got something to tell all of you."

Everyone groans, including me. Seriously, whenever Chris has something to tell us, it's nothing good. But at least he has no say over us until Christmas. Right? Oh god, I'm really getting paranoid now.

"Right now we only bring you guys here for Christmas and summer break, right?" Chris continues. His excitement seems to be growing. He's starting to look like my brother does at Christmas. Or at least, like he used to at Christmas. I wouldn't _know_ what he looks like at Christmas now because I have to be here during Christmas. Sucks, doesn't it?

I stop breathing for a moment, sensing where he was going with this. I see Beth's eyes widen as she also realizes what he was thinking.

"Well, this year we're going to be having another mini-season during Easter break!" he announces gleefully.

Lovely. Why oh why did I have to be right about that? Everyone starts to look furious.

"You can't do that to us!" Courtney screeches. "I'm calling my lawyer!" She pulls out her PDA.

Chris tuts at her. "We can't have you doing that now, can we?" He whistles and two burly men wearing black t-shirts that said Security hustle over to Courtney. One holds her back while the other destroys her PDA.

Courtney gasps. Wow, I've never seen her look that heartbroken. Not even when she thought Duncan had died in the third season.

"But I have even better news!" Chris says happily, rubbing his hands together. I'm starting to feel a diabolical villain vibe coming from him. "Instead of you guys actually going home at all, you're going to stay here and go to school!" He grins broadly. "And we're going to film it and put the good bits on national television!" I could practically see dollar signs flashing in his eyes.

Duncan starts to crack his knuckles and shoot Chris murderous glares. I wish that he would snap and try to strangle Chris again. That was possibly the best moment of my time on this show. Heck, it might have been the best moment of my _life_!

The security men relocate themselves next to Duncan rather conspicuously. Next to me, Lindsay jumps up and down, clapping her hands. "Noah, isn't this great!" she squeals. "I'm so excited!"

Several incredulous stares, including my own, are directed towards her. "Lindsay, you understand what just happened, right?" I ask her.

"Yeah! It means I get to spend more time with…" She pauses for a second. "Everyone!"

I almost sighed audibly. How perky can she be? She's just way too peppy. She's practically the opposite of me. Not to mention that she's practically the epitome of what the majority of the male populations considers an attractive girl. Blonde hair, blue eyes, and most importantly (to most guys anyway), big breasts. She makes guys practically salivate when she walks in the room. Well, most guys anyway. I'm not exactly drooling but I do think she's cute. Yeah, I admit it. But I'd rather have a real conversation with a girl and she seems to have the intelligence of a pea. Or at least, I thought she did. For the past few days she's been coming out with some amazingly intelligent remarks. They're not exactly frequent but it's definitely an improvement from before. It makes me wonder what she was doing when she disappeared. I need to ask her about that.

"Noah, aren't you excited?" she asks, interrupting my train of thought.

"Hmmm?" I ask, slightly out of it. Come on, you can excuse me for that. I was having a serious thinking session!

She repeats her question. "Aren't you excited?" She smiles at me and her wide blue eyes practically sparkle with excitement. It's kind of cute. I think that in a totally innocent way of course. Yup, totally innocent.

I shrug noncommittally. "I guess."

* * *

**Lindsay's POV**

Oh my gosh, I nearly slipped up just now and told him that I wanted to spend time with him! And that's practically a confession of love. I mean, he can't be that oblivious, can he? Actually, when I think about it, I don't think I was that subtle before. I guess he's one of those guys where you have to be totally direct.

I'm really happy that Noah and I have more in common. It was totally worth all that training with Izzy. I was even able to play video games with him! Wait, maybe I should have let him win. He looked kind of pissed off after that. I know that guys are sore losers but I got a little bit carried away there. I'm a really competitive person.

But now Noah's talking to me! It makes me all happy and glowy inside. I really want to give him a big kiss! But I think that he might freak out. It might be too early for that type of thing. But it will be totally epically awesome once I can….. Did I use those words right? I think I did. I really have to work on that.

Mmmmm, Noah.

* * *

**Noah's POV**

What exactly is she thinking about? She looks so dreamy and out of it. The only real word to describe her face is….. blissful. Yeah, that's it. She's always cheery but this goes beyond that. Whatever, I'm probably thinking too much about this.

The rest of the contestants disperse, going to do whatever they do in their spare time, because it doesn't seem like Chris has any other terrible news to tell us. I start to meander around. Lindsay walks next to me. I suddenly notice that her glasses are perched on the very tip of her nose and are in severe danger of falling off her face.

"Lindsay, be careful of your glasses," I tell her. She nods and pushes them up her nose.

"I'm going to sit down." She looks at me as if she's waiting for approval.

"Do so. You don't need to announce it." She bends down and starts to walk vaguely towards a couch, waving her arm in front of her. Her skirt rides up in the back and I get a rather nice view of her *ahem*. I totally didn't just think that. I mean, yeah, she's flashing me. But that's totally fine. I can be a gentleman. I can look away. Just give me a moment to turn my head.

…

Yup, my head isn't listening to me. Mmmm, hearts.

…

…

Whoah! Pay attention Noah!

…

…

What is she doing? That's such a strange pose. It's like she's looking for the couch. Wait, don't tell me….

"Lindsay, are those glasses prescription?" I ask her. She stands up straight and turns to look towards me. Or at least, she looks at what she thinks is me. It's actually a large potted plant that is my height.

"Yeah. Izzy wanted me to use them. She said I had bad eyesight." She blinks furiously.

"Can you see well?"

"Not really. But Izzy said that after a while they'd help my eyesight," she explains patiently to the plant.

Yeah, they'll help her eyesight eventually because her eyes will have gotten so bad that the glasses will actually help!

"Over here Lindsay." I wave and she turns her head. "I'd recommend taking them off."

"I can't!" She shakes her head violently.

"Why not?" I inquired. This ought to be good.

"I-." She turns her attention back to the potted plant. A look of intense concentration graces her face for a moment. "I like them."

Wow. That excuse was flimsy. Flimsier than candy underwear on a Vegas style wedding night. Wait, stop thinking like that, Noah! Get your mind out of the gutter. Just because Lindsay-. No, never mind, don't go there.

Lindsay starts to make her way over to me, walking like a blind man. Actually, more like a semi-blind girl who thinks a potted plant is me. "Over here Lindsay." She turns and manages to trip over an end table. She comes flying into me pushing both of us to the ground. She rolls off of me, somehow perfectly fine. Wow, my foot hurts. She pushes the glasses to the bottom of her nose again.

"Are you okay?" she asks, crouching over me. An adorable expression of worry and concern is on her face. Did I just think that she was adorable? Well, yes, I do think that she's beautiful but it's not like that. Beautiful? Too descriptive of a word. But…. okay, maybe. My feelings for her go nothing beyond friendship, if that. Friendship. If that. Ugh, my brain hurts. And that takes a lot. My foot hurts too. It really hurts! Pain. Painful.

"Hey, your foot is at a funny angle," she tells me worriedly.

"Get some help Lindsay," I advise her before sinking into darkness.

"Noah?" I hear. "Noah!"

* * *

A/N: Whoah! Sexual tension, pervertedness, accidents, Chris, and a teensy bit of innocence all wrapped up in one yummy package! Yes, there is a reason that all of my stories are rated T.

I hope I got Noah's character right. Feel free to write me reviews bashing his OOCness. I tried to make him a little sarcastic. However, I was trying to avoid the other extreme where he's a sarcastic autobot with no feelings. And then real feelings only appear when it's good for the plot. Sarcasm is just a way for him to express himself, it's not his only personality trait.

Well, I just want to clarify that Noah is not in love with Lindsay. Yet. What he thinks of her will slowly be revealed and change in the next few chapters.

Somehow, this story has morphed into a giant plan to write a long story. I just love Noah too much. Seriously.

Just so you guys know for the future, this story may/will have large gaps in time. That is when unimportant normal bonding happens between Lindsay and Noah that doesn't really affect the plotline.


	4. Some Very Unlucky Chicken Soup

Disclaimer: I don't own TDI. If I did..... :3 heeheehee

* * *

**Noah's POV**

"I'm soooo sorry," Lindsay apologizes for the thousandth time.

"It's fine, Lindsay," I reassure her. Again.

She sits on the bed. "But I broke your foot!" she says, her blue eyes widening in remorse.

"I'll be just fine Lindsay. I'll catch up on my reading," I tell her. Or I will if she ever leaves me alone.

"But… but… you'll get lonely!"

I hold back a sigh. "I'll be fine." Why exactly are you so worried, Lindsay? I just want some peace and quiet!

Her face lights up and she settles herself on my bed more. "I'll keep you company!"

No, Lindsay, leave me in peace! She looks at me, her eyes glittering….. and suddenly I can't say no. "Sure," I mutter.

She claps her hands in glee. "I'm sure we'll have lots of fun!"

This time I sigh audibly. "Could you hand me my book?" I ask. "It's on the dresser." She jumps off the bed and grabs it.

She reads the title off the cover. "Ooooh, Main Street."

"Read it?" I ask sarcastically.

"Kind of," she replies, still studying the cover.

How do you kind of read a book? Either you read it, you are part of the way through it, or you haven't read it at all!

"I didn't really like it," she comments.

"Why not?" I ask. Wait, please don't tell me she thought it was too long.

"The whole plotline seemed sort of misogynic. It kind of implies that women should be happy being domestic. The ending didn't satisfy me either," Lindsay explains.

"The plotline was actually against misogyny," I argue. "The main character is constantly rebelling against domesticity and is trying to reform the town!"

"The book is made up of her griping about how badly things are going, having fantasies about things that never become realities, or trying to convert others to her point of view. She was an obnoxiously idealistic main character."

Wow…. That was a well-formed argument. With big words too. Where exactly has this mental capacity come from? Before, she was mentally equivalent to a gnat.

Lindsay bats her big blue eyes a few times. "What?"

Wait, was I staring? Oops.

"Sorry," I say, "I just didn't know you read this kind of stuff." Actually, I didn't think you read at all. Hey, you live and you learn.

She finally hands me the book and I hold it awkwardly. Does she want to talk to me? Should I just read? Why the hell did I even ask for the book in the first place?

"I'm really excited for school! I can't wait for next week," Lindsay says.

"Yeah," I say. How else should I respond to that?

"Want some chicken soup? My mom always makes it for me when I'm sick," Lindsay says cheerily.

"I'm not really sick Lindsay. You know that, right?" I ask, somewhat sarcastically.

She blinks a few times and smiles sheepishly. "Yeah, yeah! Of course I know that. I just…" She pauses and looks up at the ceiling, as if asking God for inspiration. "I just really like chicken soup!"

"Mmmhmmm," I say, absentmindedly.

"It's delicious and stuff! And most of the time, people that make it for you are really nice. And you get to eat it in bed. And you can eat it for dinner with your family."

Her voice chirps on and on, making me drowsy. I close my eyes for a second.

**Lindsay's POV**

"Hey, Noah, do you like chicken soup?" I ask him. I hear no answer. Then I notice that he's fallen asleep. Did I send him to sleep with my mindless babbling? Did I use those words right? Am I boring? My brain hurts! I need like, a Tylenol or something.

Why did I start talking about chicken soup? Stupid, stupid, stupid! He might like me even less now. He totally caught me when I confused being sick and breaking a bone. Ugh, I can be so stupid sometimes! And I need to be smart for Noah.

Maybe if I get him some food, he'll forget about the whole chicken soup incident. Yeah, that's what I'll do. I'll get him some food. No chicken soup though. And a Tylenol while I'm down there.

Oh, and I should think of some things for us to talk about. That Main Street book thing was waaaay too hard to talk about. I had to try and remember all those Sparknotes essays that Izzy made me read. I'm starting to not remember some of the stuff that she taught me.

* * *

**Noah's POV**

I was rudely awakened by an uncomfortable sensation. Actually, it was more like an incredibly painful burning. Yeah. I fling the bowl of soup overturned on my lap somewhere into the nether regions of my room where it shatters into pieces against my wall. Then I notice Lindsay standing next to my bed, whimpering.

"What…. were you doing?" I ask, hoping the answer will be at least slightly reasonable.

"I got you some soup," she responds quietly. "It's not chicken."

Why would I care if it was chicken or not? Why the hell would I frickin' care!

"Why would I care if it was chicken or not?" I ask, clenching my teeth. I sound a lot calmer than I do in my thoughts. "It's burning me."

"I-I'm sorry," she stutters. She tries to wipe some of the soup off me, an act that only brings me more pain.

"Stop!" I yell, pushing her arm away. She freezes and her big blue eyes fill with tears. Shoot.

"I'm sorry!" she wails. She dashes out of my room, leaving me with a lap full of soup and a whole lot of pain.

Why does she have to be so darn concerned? I am not an invalid. I have crutches and can get myself my own soup. I don't need her soup, especially when she insists on spilling it on my lap!

Even worse, I feel like I'm with her constantly! Now that I think about it, I don't remember one minute in the last few days where she hasn't been with me. I should be happy that she's gone now. Right?

Yeah. I can relax now.

* * *

A/N: AWWWW! Noahkins and Lindsay had their first fight!

Okay, it's kind of pathetic... and it's not really a fight.... it's kind of just Lindsay overreacting. But yeah. Don't be so mean Noahkins!

I'm sorry that this chapter took so long to write. I can't even claim that life stopped me from doing it. I just had terrible terrible writers block. I actually still do.... the next chapter might take even longer than this one.

Sorry! Hope you liked the chapter.

And now CamperThirteen can stop bothering me about this chapter! (haha, love you!)


	5. The Outsider

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, as I am poor.

A/N: Okay, I've now know where I'm going with this story. It's not going to be a bunch of amusing one-shots strung together anymore. It's going to be a real story!

YAY FOR GETTING RID OF WRITERS BLOCK! Can I get a "huzzah"?

* * *

The floor numbers slowly decrease as I lean uncomfortably against the wall. Finally, the elevator dings and the doors slide open. I grab my crutches and laboriously start out the door. It takes me a few minutes to make it down the hall. When I pause by the door to the room with the breakfast buffet, I'm suddenly struck with nerves. What am I nervous about? I wonder at myself sometimes.

I push the door open and the normal buzz of conversation is suddenly missing. As I limp past some of the tables, glares follow me.

Wait.

Of course.

Lindsay's a golden girl who can do no wrong. Everyone loves her and wants to protect her. And I am the annoying, sarcastic bookworm, who has no friends. Lovely. I've become even more of an outcast than before. Oh well, it's not like any of them really like me anyway. And I'll get to leave and go home soon so-….

Shoot. I hate Chris. I've got to spend the entire year with these bozos. A sigh escapes my lips as I limp to the buffet. Ah, the perfect way to distract myself from the horror that will soon come. A table of delicious breakfast food awaits. I snatch up a heavy ceramic plate and pile it with pancakes, sausage links, an omelet, and other delicious breakfast goodies. Hey, just because I'm not a jock doesn't mean that I don't eat the same amount as other growing guys! Me and my breakfast start to head out of the room.

As I leave, I catch Courtney's eye. Or rather, her glare. If looks could kill, the army would make her their secret weapon. Since when has she been Lindsay's BFF? I distinctly remember Courtney calling her a "brainless bimbo" sometime last week. I cast a surreptitious glance behind me, wondering if Duncan is lurking somewhere, before remembering that she doesn't like me because I actually talk to Harold. Instead, I meet Katie's stare. She looks at me coolly, and then turns her attention back to Lindsay, who is sitting next to her. She's also not one of the people I had pegged as Lindsay's friends. But, my impression of her is that she sticks up for whoever she wants to stick up for, and she switches sides just as often. She's flighty. Just like that whole Gwen Trent thing. Ugh, that was only made worse by all the publicity it got. And then there was all the people bothering me.

"Noah, what do you think about it?"

"Noah, whose side are you on?"

"Noah, do you think Gwen likes Sprite and Trent likes Pepsi and that's why they really broke up?"

(That last one was Izzy. No duh. Like you couldn't tell.)

Did it occur to anyone that their meddling might be making everything worse? Nooooo. Everyone loves to be in everyone else's business.

"Hey, dude!" Tyler's voice interrupts my thoughts.

"What, _dude_?" I reply, sarcasm dripping from my voice.

"I heard you made Lindsay cry?" he asks rhetorically. He starts to get in my face. "Not cool man. Not cool at all." Why exactly does he care so much about her, even after their slightly messy breakup? Never mind. I should have seen ahead of time that he's the protective type.

I stare at his all-too-close face, expressionless. Now, what would be the fastest way to be rid of him? Insulting him is definitely not the way to go here….. Okay.

Lights.

Camera.

Action!

I abruptly look down, changing my expression to that of pain. "You're right," I say, remorse oozing out of my demeanor. "That was so wrong of me." I look around theatrically and see almost everyone in the room listening intently. I think even that maid cleaning the table is trying to listen in. That corner of the table is definitely not dirty enough for her to be scrubbing with that kind of fervor. "I'm an idiot," I continue. Tyler's face shows his confusion clearly and I fight the urge to giggle like a maniac. I lower my voice theatrically and the maid leans toward me. Yeah, she is definitely trying to listen. "I can't believe I hurt her like that!" With that, I spin around and stalk out of the room. As I leave, I hear a relieved sigh from Gwen. Why, I have no idea......

Freedom! I scurry out to the pool, where nobody will be going today, as it is pretty cool out. I scarf down my breakfast in peace thankfully.

I hear a noise and I turn my head to the left. Katie slides into the pool seat next to me, a serious look on her face. "Did you really mean what you said?" she says. I immediately know exactly what she's talking about.

I smirk widely. "Not really."

She looks at me, a reproving stare firmly pasted on her face. "Don't be a jerk!"

"It's my defining characteristic."

"It will be as long as you believe that."

God, I hate that kind of mumbo jumbo. As long as you believe! Cue the magical fairies and pixie dust please.

"When did you turn all philosophical?" I inquire.

"When I realized what might happen to you. Take my advice. Apologize." With that, she stood up and started back to the main part of the hotel, her flip-flops slapping against the ground as she went.

I start to relax, but am once again interrupted.

"Got a second?" Gwen asked. She sits down next to me and makes herself comfortable.

"Do I have a choice?" I ask dryly, annoyed that my morning is being invaded again.

She grins. "Not really. But it'll only take a minute."

"I've only got a second," I reply.

She rolls her eyes. "Heard that one before."

"Really. Thought I was being original," I reply.

"Sorry to burst your bubble." Her face turns serious in a heartbeat, making me wary of whatever she has to tell me. "Hey, I just wanted to warn you. Izzy's planning something."

"Really? I shouldn't be too worried then. Her license to kill's expired," I say sarcastically.

She shakes her head. "No, she's gotten really mad about the Lindsay thing. Keeps muttering about 'all that wasted time.' And it gets worse."

"Oh, joy."

She bites her lip and studies her nails for a second. "She's enlisted Courtney."

Izzy alone? Psycho. Courtney alone? Crazy. Okay, them as a duo? That's worrisome, to say the least. Never mind, calling it worrisome is like calling World War Three a small disagreement.

"How'd she _do_ that?" I ask, incredulous.

"I'm pretty sure she bribed her," Gwen explains.

At least _that _makes sense. "Thanks, Gwen," I say sincerely.

Surprise graces her face. "You in a good mood?" she asks.

"Why?" I ask innocently.

"I've never heard you sound sincere before."

"I've been known to do it. Every so often."

She grins in amusement. "Like once every century?"

I smile and nod. "Pretty much." Praise the lord! Someone with the same sense of humor as me!

She gets up and adjusts her skirt. "Well….Good luck."

I nod. "If you see me tomorrow, you'll know I survived. If you don't…."

"Where would you like me to send the body?" she asks, a pseudo-serious look on her face.

I pretend to ponder the question. I raise my finger in the air in a dramatic epiphany. "Send it to Chris with a note that says, 'I'm suing'," I say.

She starts to walk away. "I'll be sure to do that," she calls over her shoulder. "Just to see the look on his face!"

* * *

A/N: Yes! Finished it. I'm so excited to show you what's going to happen! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!


	6. Adding Injury To Insult

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Let's move on, please!

A/N: I'm so excited that I wrote two chapters in a few hours! Exceptional. Okay, if you don't laugh and/or smile from this chapter, I've failed as an author. Seriously. I was cracking up when I wrote it.

* * *

I've got to say, the rest of yesterday was definitely very uneventful. I spent the whole day hiding from everyone, especially Courtney and Izzy. I've never felt so happy that school starts tomorrow.

Sadly, I need to venture down to the buffet to nab some breakfast. If I get in and out of there quick enough, it won't be so bad, right?

I should know better than to think that.

I push the door open and a horrifying sight meets my eyes.

…

…

…

…

…

…

Had you going there didn't I? Actually, I have absolutely no idea what's going on here. Courtney and Izzy are handing out books of some kind.

"Get your NoCo! NoCo! Steamy hot NoCo!" Izzy yells into a megaphone. Several people cover their ears, as the noise deafens them. Where did she even find that megaphone?

"NoCo," Courtney say, with notably less enthusiasm. She hands a book to Duncan and he bursts out laughing.

What's NoCo? It sounds really familiar for some reason……

I glance around the room and see Cody slumped in a chair, looking like he's given up all hope. Katie notices me from the other side of the room and starts shooting me "I told you so" looks.

This does not bode well.

I take my sweet time getting over to the two. When I finally get there, Izzy smiles at me sweetly and holds out a book.

"Wanna book, Noah?" she asks innocently. She puts the book in my hands and I start to limp away.

When I open the book, I freeze. Inside are horrors left best untold.

My god, do people actually enjoy reading about this? Is watching a cartoon of me raping Cody so much fun? And this is…. volume 5? There are five freakin' volumes of this stuff?

I turn around, about to give Izzy and Courtney a piece of my mind, when I'm hit violently by a flying book.

"Ha-HA!" Izzy screams. She leaps onto a table and strikes a pose, with one hand on her hip and one in a fist raised in the air. "Adding injury to insult!" She starts to run down the table towards me, pegging books at me as she goes. People pull plates and glasses off the table, attempting to get them out of her way. She bowls over anything in her path, including a large fruit bowl, causing mayhem and destruction in her wake. I try to get away, but she gains on me quickly, as my injury slows me down. I ditch the crutches in favor of hopping away from her as fast as I can. I barrel out the door, with Izzy hot on my heels. The best place to hide from her would definitely be _there…._ I've just got to get there ahead of her.

I turn as many corners as possible, with Izzy throwing books at me. She drops a bunch and bends to pick them up, giving me a window of opportunity. I jump around a few more corners. There, I open a door and hide inside the maintenance closet.

Izzy hums the Jaws theme as she gets closer and closer. Finally, the theme stops only a few feet away from me. I peer out the slats in the door and suddenly, a large green eye appears in front of mine.

That was..... startling, to say the least. I think my heart stopped.

"Noah's in the closet!" Izzy bellows.

Oh god, no.

"Noah's still in the closet!" she yells. "He doesn't seem to be coming out any time soon!"

"Izzy, I'm going to kill you!" I yell. I partially open the door.

"Noah's coming out of the closet!" Izzy yells. She hefts a book, getting ready to hurl it at me.

Maybe not coming out of the closet would be better…. Damn! I can't think that, it sounds too messed up.

"Never mind, Noah's still not coming out of the closet!" Izzy screams. I hear the thundering of feet coming down the hallway towards us.

Cody is the first to arrive, unfortunately. "Look, Cody's walking past the closet, Noah!" Izzy says to me loudly. "You gonna come out for him?" Through the slats, I see Cody blush a vibrant red. Then, a crowd of people arrives.

"Izzy, come on, this is a litt-" Courtney begins. I never get to hear what she says, because Izzy interrupts her.

"Look, guys! Noah's in the closet!" she says theatrically. "Do you think any of you guys can get him to come out?"

"Wait, he's seriously in the closet?" I hear Duncan say.

"Oh my god, Izzy," Katie says.

"Girl, you're going a little too far with this," Leshawna says. "First you sell gay porn about him, then you trap him in a closet?"

"Gay manga porn!" Izzy corrects her.

"You sold it?" I mutter.

"Only made twenty dollars off it," Izzy says, nonchalant. "Noah, this just isn't the right target audience for you. We had to start giving it out for free."

Should I be flattered? Never mind, I'll stick to disturbed. And I should get out of here now.

I push the door open and fall rather unceremoniously out of the closet, flat on my face.

"Oh my gosh, are you okay?" Lindsay asks, real concern on her face. She offers me her hand.

I have absolutely no desire to talk to her right now. Especially after what I've been through. I give her my most piercing glare and get up myself, ignoring her offered hand.

"Thanks a _lot, _Izzy," I say, my face twisted into my angriest stare. I start to hop down the hallway. Perhaps not the most dignified exit, but dignity is not really high on my list right now. Anger? Yes. Getting the hell out of there? _Yes._ Dignity? Screw it. When someone gives out gay porn about you, it's not real high on your list.

You're going down Izzy. I don't know how, or when, but you're going down.

I hear a muffled sob from behind me. "Izzy, I hate you!" Lindsay yells. She tears down the hallway past me and I swear I could have heard an "Oops," from Izzy.

* * *

A/N: AHA! I had a spazz attack about an hour ago when I figured out exactly what Izzy could do that's so horrible. .

Who's proud of me? I've lost my writers block on almost all of my stories!

.... Which isn't really good for you, because then I don't have as much time to write this story... *sigh* I write too much at the same time.


	7. Apology, Not Accepted

Disclaimer: Don't own it. I'm sad. *sigh*

* * *

So, you guys got all that?" Chris says, his grin growing wider. I glance around the room we're in and sigh inwardly. This is not going to be fun. Everyone gets up reluctantly and carries their bags into the hallway.

Where am I, you wonder? Well, this all started this morning…..

* * *

"WILL ALL CONTESTANTS PLEASE REPORT TO THE LOBBY WITH THEIR LUGGAGE?"

I jerk out of sleep, startled by the overly loud noise. I fall out of the bed onto the ground, hitting my head on the ground hard. I use the bed to push myself back up and check the clock, which is easily visible in the dim light.

4:00. Chris, you sick bastard.

I grab my crutches from beside my bed. Thankfully, someone got them for me and left them outside my door yesterday. I pull my clothes out of my closet, a quick job, as I brought little with me here. I take a quick shower, pull on some clothes, and brush my teeth, all tasks that are hampered by a large cast on your foot. Ugh. Completely ready, I limp out the door, awkwardly carrying my bag.

After five long minutes I make it to the elevator, which carries me quickly downstairs. When I finally get to the lobby, Chris and the rest of the contestants await me.

"Took you long enough," Courtney says snarkily.

"No pity for the injured," I mutter.

"Not around here," Gwen says grimly.

"Too true," I agree. A small smile flashes across her face, disappearing as swift as it appeared.

"Now that we're done waiting for Noahkins," Chris says, flashing his million dollar smile. "We can finally get on the bus!"

"Aren't you gonna explain where we're going?" Leshawna says huffily, crossing her arms across her chest.

Chris smile grows even wider. "No. No I'm not."

We all let out a collective sigh, and tramp out the waiting bus. It is small, yellow, smelly, and makes you feel dirty when you sit down. Obviously, a true school bus. On the side, the words "West Biscayne Preparatory School" are printed. Okay, any idiot could have figured out where we're going now. At least I can easily say that this school is going to be better than my dump of an inner city school. Hey, when you're the youngest of nine, you're parents can't spare any more money for "fancy-shmancy edumacation." Their words, not mine.

On the bus, the scuffle for seats begin. Of course, Geoff and Duncan nab the back seats, which guarantees lots of "Woohoo's!" that will be coming from back there.

"Tyler, dude, get back here!" Geoff calls out.

Tyler doesn't notice him, as he is deep in an argument with Eva. I distinctly hear the words football, pathetic, and clumsy oaf come out of Eva's mouth. Tyler starts to sputter and I snicker. I grab a seat in the middle of the bus, not too far up and not too far back. On a bus, unobtrusive is best.

Cody and Harold sit in the seat in front of me, deep in conversation. I stare out the window, wishing the ride was already over, when Gwen slides into the seat next to me.

"Can I sit?" she asks, already making herself comfortable.

"Go ahead," I say, gesturing at the seat.

"Glad I'm welcome," Gwen replies.

She unzips her bag and pulls out an IPod. She slips one earbud in her ear and offers the other to me. "Wanna listen?" I stare at it for a moment, unsure if I should take the offer. "It's not going to bite!" she teases me. I take it warily. The second it goes in my ear, I'm accosted by a barrage of sound, that only slightly resembles music. Gotta love metal.

Gwen grins, and I'm pretty sure that she's amused about my face, which is twisted into a grimace of pain and incredulity. Seriously, how can anyone listen to this stuff?

"Not your taste?" she asks playfully, still grinning.

"Saying not really would be an understatement," I answer.

She hands me the IPod. "Pick something you like. I've got a little of pretty much anything."

"Got any country?" I ask jokingly.

She rears back and raises her eyebrows at me. "Please tell me you didn't peg me for a country girl."

I chuckle. "Of course not. You think I could make that mistake and live to tell about it?"

She shakes a fist at me threateningly. "You better believe it!"

"Aren't we chummy?" Izzy says in an over cheerful voice.

Gwen looks up at her, a slightly irked expression on her face. "Yes, we are Izzy. Could you go away?"

Izzy's smile falters for a moment, but comes back with the same psychotic intensity as before. "Don't bite Izzy's head off! Izzy only wanted to apologize to Noah!" She turns her attention to me. "So, does Noah accept Izzy's apology?"

I stare at her blankly. Does she actually expect me to accept that? Don't count on it, honey.

"Okay, let me get this clear," I start. "You sold gay porn about me." She nods. "You hurled books at me while I ran away from you without crutches." She blinks a few times and nods again. "And you trapped me in a closet and made jokes about me being gay. Yet you still expect me to forgive you?"

"Well, when you put it like that, Izzy sounds like some sort of criminal," Izzy says.

I fix my most outraged stare on her, hoping to convey the full extent of my fury. "You _are _a criminal, Izzy. Apology, _not _accepted."

She stomps her foot. "You're a jerk! I don't know why Lindsay insists that you're so nice!"

I slump in my chair, indicating that I'm done talking with her. She slumps in the seat next to us, where Lindsay is curled into a ball.

The bus is silent in the wake of our fight, until the bus starts to go along a very bumpy road. Geoff and Duncan yell and convince others, including DJ, Katie, Sadie, Harold, Cody, and Beth, to join them in a rousing chorus of Ninety-Nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall. Gwen and I snicker at the sound of our fellow contestants, some of which should never open their mouths to sing. Ever.

None too soon, the bus pulls into a school with a large sign that says "West Biscayne Preparatory School – Turning Out Champions Since 1950" in gold script. We drive down the road for ages, past beautiful landscaping and large buildings painted a pale purple. We finally pull around a large circle and stop outside a large two-story building. Everyone rushes to get off the bus, sick of sitting down. We all stand outside the building, unsure of what to do, until Chris comes out of the building with a burly, bald, black man wearing a suit.

"Welcome to West Biscayne Preparatory School!" the man says. He flashes us a rather genuine smile. "I'm Mr. Ray, your Dean of Students. I'm also the head of the residential program. I'll be in charge of you during your stay here. If you have any problems here, you can talk to me." He looks around inquisitively. "Any questions?"

"Wait, so we're living _here_?" Leshawna murmurs.

"That's right!" Mr. Ray says. Wow. He has extremely good hearing. "Now, everyone inside!"

We all pick up our bags and head inside, following Mr. Ray and Chris. Inside, the ceilings are high, and the floors are dark wood. Everything around us looks expensive, from the art on the walls to the ornate doorway we're standing in. Almost everyone gapes at the room.

"You all like your new home?" Mr. Ray asks us.

We murmur our assent, most of us still flabbergasted by the room. The ceiling rattles and Mr. Ray's face flashes with annoyance. "Keep it down up there!" he hollers. "Sorry," he says to us. "They're just excited that you're here! Apparently, some of them knew that show that you're on." Obviously, he'd never heard of it before we got here. Chris does not look pleased.

"So, go upstairs and meet your housemates. The stairs are down the hallway," he says. He points down the hallway.

Suddenly, thuds are heard from upstairs, like multiple people jumping up and down. I hear shrill shrieking. Oh, no. Please tell me that Chris didn't purposefully give us psycho housemates! I wouldn't put it past him. I look at his face, and see a large grin.

"So, you guys got all that?" Chris says, his grin growing wider. I glance around the room we're in and sigh inwardly. This is not going to be fun. Everyone gets up reluctantly and carries their bags into the hallway.

So that's pretty much what happened. Hope I survive this….

* * *

A/N: I'm excited to get to the real action.... :) Hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	8. The Residentials: Part One

Disclaimer: I don't own TDI. Now, on with the story!

Lindsay's POV

* * *

I pick up my bag and follow Noah and the others into the hallway. I wonder what kind of people our housemates are? I open my mouth, about to ask Noah what he thinks, when I realize that he's still mad. Why did Izzy have to do that? It was so mean! She said it was for me, but I didn't want her to do anything like that. Now Noah's really mad at me. It's making me sad.

I hear voices at the top of the stairs, and squealing. They sound like they'll be fun people. An Asian girl sticks her head from around the corner and catches sight of us.

"それらです!" she yells. **(1) **Another girl, who looks like she's Latino, looks around the corner with her.

Their heads disappear and I hear their feet running down the hallway. "¡Ellos _están_ aquí!" someone yells. **(2) **We all slowly finish walking up the stairs and at the top of the stairs, lots of people are waiting for us.

"Oh my god!" one of the girls screams. She's very pale and sort of short with short, straight, brown hair. She starts to jump up and down with one of the other girls. "EEEEEEEE!" both of them squeal.

Everyone covers their ears except me. I have friends that are louder than them. "They put Katie and Sadie to shame," Noah mutters. Gwen laughs.

Oh, it's so nice that he has another friend! Sometimes, people don't see what a nice person he is.

A girl with perfect blonde hair pushes her way to the front. She has fashionable workout clothes on, sweatpants and a neon green Sugarlips. "Don't mind the wonder twins," she says dismissively. She pushes a perfectly straight strand of hair behind her ear. Both girls stop squealing.

A tan girl with long, straight, brown hair speaks up. "Hey, don't call them that, Kiki." Wow, I wish I had that good of a tan!

"Whatever, Nina, " the blonde girl, whose name is apparently Kiki, says. She turns her attention back to us. "Welcome to Lilac House."

"You don't even live here!" Nina protests. "Why are you welcoming them?"

"In the absence of their housemaster, I am here to greet them. And I am head cheerleader, so I have that kind of right," Kiki says. "Besides you don't live here either! Why are you even here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Nina retorts.

"I was at cheer camp when I came to visit my close friends in this house," Kiki says. "What's your excuse?"

"You don't have any friends in this house yet! They just got here two days ago!" Nina says incredulously.

"Well, you definitely don't have any reason to be here. Why are you even on the campus?"

"Band camp," Nina explains. "And I actually know these people!"

"Ummmm, excuse me," Beth says.

"Save it, short stuff," Kiki says.

Nina gasps. "Kiki, what's wrong with you? What do you want, Beth?"

"I just wanted to know where we could put our stuff," Beth says quietly.

"Your rooms are at the end of the hall. Your names are on them," Nina explains.

"I could have done that!" Kiki says angrily. She glares at Nina who laughs.

"Whatever. You should probably go back to cheer camp. Your cheerleaders can't afford to miss any practice," Nina says.

Kiki storms out, pushing Beth and Harold out of her way on the way out. "Sorry about that," Nina apologizes. "Hi, I'm Nina, I'm the captain of the guard." She cast an amused glance after Kiki. "And that _thing,_ was Kiki, cheerleading captain."

"She seemed nice," I say, hoping to lift the mood in the room. Everyone was being awkward, just standing there in the hallway. I got some weird looks for that and I'm not sure why. I'm just trying to be nice. And everyone has good qualities!

If you have any questions while you're here today, just ask me. If I'm not here, I'm either on the football field, or in the Fine Arts Building. " She giggles. "Follow the noise."

"Well, I'm going to get rid of my stuff now," Duncan announces. He pushes through the crowd of residential students and starts walking to the end of the hallway. "Hey, Geoff! We're roommates!"

"Cool, dude!" Geoff pumps his fist into the air. He sprints down to the end of the hallway and pushes open the door to their room. Duncan follows him inside. He sticks his head out the door. "Can we decorate it ourselves?" he asks.

Nina looks at blankly and turns to one of the other students. "¿Son permitidos ellos decorar?" she asks.

"Si, si!" the student said, nodding her head furiously.

Nina turns back to us. "She said yes."

"Even I know that much Spanish," Duncan mutters. He closes the door to their room. Everyone starts to move around, and I look for my room. On one of the doors, I see my name with Katie's next to it. Which one is Katie again?

The tan girl from the show (who I think is Katie) stops in front of our room. "So this is it?" she asks. I nod and push open the door. Inside is… well, nothing much. There's a bunk bed, two desks, a closet, and a black beanbag chair. The walls are even painted white. "Do you want top or bottom?" she asks.

"Bottom, because there was this one time a cheer camp where I was sleeping on the top. And the roof totally leaked, which was really low-rent of the place we were staying. Anyway, I was sleeping on the top and the cabin next to mine decided to play a prank on us. That's because we were having a prank war at the camp that week. So they used that special thing that predicts the weather-"

"The news?" Katie asks.

"I think so," I continue. "And they took the roof off our cabin when we were sleeping, so it started to rain and I totally got soaked! But, I thought it was just the roof leaking because I was kind of half-asleep." I smile at Katie. "That's why I like the bottom more now."

She nods, tosses her bags on the top bunk, and leaves the room. "I'm going to see how Sadie's doing," she calls behind her. Awww, they're so cute!

I'm so glad I have a BFF like Beth. She's so nice. I still haven't gotten around to giving her a makeover though. I should do that tonight! It's always important to look your best when you're going to school. She has good fashion sense, it just doesn't seem to make it into her closet. Wait, does that even make sense? How can she dress me so cutely, but her own clothes are kind of bleh? This is going to bother me.

Kiki pushes open the door to my room. "Knock knock," she says.

"Who is it?" I answer.

She blinks a few times. Did I say something wrong? Isn't that how you respond to a knock knock joke?

She pushes open the door wider and another girl walks in. The other girl is almost as pretty as me! She has wavy blonde hair, at least a DD chest, and is wearing sweatpants and a tight pink t-shirt.

"Hi, Lindsay," Kiki says. "This is Mimi, my co-captain of the cheerleaders." Mimi waves and I wave back. "We've decided that we like you."

"Yay!" I say excitedly, almost clapping my hands together in delight. That's a habit I picked up at cheer camp.

"So we want you to try out for the cheerleading squad," Kiki says. Wow! That's such an honor. Nobody ever lets people try out late. "But I'll have to teach you all the routines and stuff this week before the first game." But, wait, don't I have to try out before she teaches me the cheers and stuff?

"Wait, don't I need to try out before you teach me stuff like that?" I ask.

"That's a formality," Kiki explains. "You're actually already accepted."

I blink a few times, sort of confused. Oh, well. I'm accepted!

"So, we've got to go back to work now," Kiki tells me. "But we'll see you tomorrow, after school! Meet us on the football field. Bye!" She walks out of my room.

"Ta-ta!" Mimi says. She follows Kiki and I hear Kiki's angry voice outside.

"What did I tell you about that? Ta-ta is not a chic European word anymore! It's just sooooo freshman year! If you're going to hang with us juniors, you have to act like a junior! You can't be like a freshman!"

"S-sorry," Mimi squeaks.

After a few minutes of unpacking my clothes into the closet, Nene walks into my room.

"Oh, hi Nene!"

She shakes her head smiling. "It's Nina."

Oh, no! I can't remember people's names anymore! This is really really bad. Really really really bad.

"I saw Kiki come in here," she says coolly.

"She's really nice! She gave me a spot on the cheerleading team!" I tell her excitedly.

"Do you mind if I give you some advice?" Nina asks me. I shake my head no and she continues. "Stay away from Kiki. She's nothing but bad news."

I gasp. "But she seemed so nice!"

"She's not." She pauses. "But that's all I had to tell you. Oh, and the bathrooms are at the end of the hall. Get up early, there's only two." She gets up and walks towards the door. She puts her hand on the door handle and looks back at me. "The guard is always looking for new members. _Always._" She laughed, as if enjoying her own private joke. "And we're much cooler than the cheerleaders at this school."

"What do you mean?"

"At the first football game, you'll see." With that, she left my room, leaving me completely and utterly confused.

* * *

**(1)**- They're here!

**(2)**- They are here!

A/N: So, you've met Kiki and Nina. Oh, and Mimi. Can't wait for the rest of it. We're still setting up for the rest of the story, so no complaints about how slow the story's moving!

Thanks for reading! And reviewing!

_**Special Shoutout to CamperThirteen, who points out all my mistakes! Thank you oodles and oodles!**_


	9. The Residentials: Part Two

Disclaimer: I don't own TDI. :(

A/N: We're going a bit back in time here.

Noah's POV-

* * *

I drag my bag into the room I'm sharing with Cody. He's already thrown his bags on the top bunk, leaving me with the bottom one. Whatever. I've never understood why people regard sleeping on the top bunk as such an amazing thing. Seriously, what's so cool about sleeping a few feet in the air?

Cody walks back into the room with a short Latino girl following him. "See, this is Noah," he says, pointing to me.

"Hi, Noah!" she says in a thick Spanish accent. She smiles coyly at me and adjusts her tube top. I kind of wonder why a girl like her is following Cody. I mean, he's not exactly the ladies man he thinks he is, and this girl could only be described as sexy.

"Noah, this is Bria," Cody says.

I give her a short wave. "Hey."

"I saw you on the box!" she says excitedly. Okay, either she's stupid, or she doesn't speak fluent English. I'm going for the latter.

"The TV?" I ask.

She looks confused. "Maybe?"

"I learn English from show!" She smiles widely. "Thank you for helping me learn!" She turns back to Cody. "Would you like help packing?"

He smiles his gap-toothed smile and nods. "Sure!"

I sort of feel awkward with this girl bustling around, unpacking his stuff. I'm sure not going to unpack with her around. I guess I'll go check out the house for a while.

I open the door quietly and leave the room. As I walk down the hallway, I check out some of the names on the rooms. Gwen's rooming with Eva….. Interesting. Dunno how that will turn out. One of the rooms already has shouting coming from inside. Of course, Heather and Courtney.

"You cannot come on my side of the room, psycho!" Heather screams.

"Psycho? Well, at least I'm not some sort of crazy scheming _bitch_!" Courtney retorts. Ouch. I don't think Courtney will ever forgive Heather for telling her that Duncan had died that one time. Even now that the two of them aren't together anymore. While I continue down the hallway, I see the girl from earlier, Kiki, enter Lindsay and Katie's room. Typical that the cheerleader would seek out Lindsay first.

I roll my eyes and make my way down the stairs. The front room is silent and completely vacant of people. It's still as impressive as before, even on second glance. I push open the door to the next room over and see a small kitchen. How do they ever feed everyone in this house with only this kitchen? In the next room over, there's a game room. It's filled with practically every game system every invented, along with a large stock of movies. I open another door, and walk down a flight of stairs with thick, plushy carpet. Downstairs, there's three girls and a guy sitting on a couch chatting. They look up when I enter the room and their faces light up.

"Oh my god, doesn't he look exactly like him?" one of the girls squeals.

"It is him you idiot! Didn't you hear? They're coming to our school!" another says. She pushes her brown hair out of her eyes.

"Really really really?" the third one says.

"You two are so clueless!" the guy says, rolling his eyes.

"Don't ignore him!" the girl with the brown hair says. She looks back at me. "Hi, I'm Cassie!"

"Noah," I say shortly.

She laughs. "Of course I knew that!"

"Oh my god!" one of the girls says, for the second time in a minute. "Can I touch you?"

Cassie gives her a strange look. "You're such a creeper, April!"

"You're a freeeeaaak," the guy says teasingly.

"Shut up, Russ!" April says. Russ cracks up and April slaps him lightly on the arm.

Cassie elbows the girl whose name is still unknown to me. "Introduce yourself!"

"Hi, I'm Reese," the girl says, tucking her bangs behind her ear shyly. I nod, acknowledging her.

Really, I just want to get out of here. April kind of scared me with her "Can I touch you?" thing.

"Bye!" I say quickly, hightailing it up the stairs.

"Bye!" they call after me.

Note to self: Never ever ever go back downstairs. Avoid those people at all costs!

I wander around a bit more, but apparently there isn't much else to see. Eventually I go back upstairs, back to my room. I put my hand on the door, and hesitate, checking for noise from inside. I hear nothing, so I push open the door. Inside is something I wish I hadn't walked in on.

Bria and Cody are making out, on _my _bed. Lovely.

"Ooooh, Cody!" Bria moans. She starts to tug off his shirt and I decide I need to intervene.

"Eh-hem," I clear my throat. Cody freezes while Bria turns her head to look at me, unfazed.

She rolls her eyes. "Tch." She gets off Cody's lap and sits on the bed next to him. A lip gloss container comes from out of nowhere, and she applies it expertly. She closes the container and gets up. "Adiós, Cody!" she says flirtatiously, waggling her fingers at him. "Hasta luego!" Bria trots out of the room, smiling perkily.

Cody watches her go, dazed. "Hasta…. Luego," he mutters.

Somehow…. I get the feeling that this is going to be happening often. That girl was a _fast _mover! I grab my bag from next to Cody and toss it onto the top bunk. "You get bottom now," I inform him. I'm not sleeping on a bed that he and Bria did who knows _what _on.

He nods, still staring off into space.

* * *

A/N: Okay, I apologize for this sort of filler chapter. I just needed to introduce Bria.

Oh, and you don't need to specifically remember those girls that were downstairs. They're not important to the storyline, I just needed to do something with this chapter..... haha... *scratches head sheepishly* Yeah.... At least Bria was amusing! (To me at least)

And yes, **Chi**, I wrote Bria just for you. I wouldn't have done it if she hadn't helped me out with my intended storyline but she does! So, thanks for the idea!


	10. The Look

Disclaimer: No TDI for me! AHHHH! That's so sad!

Lindsay's POV:

* * *

A long buzzing noise startled me out of my thoughts about Kiki and Nina. After the buzzing stopped, you could hear Chris's voice.

"Could all contestants report to the front hall! You have testing to do."

Testing? I don't like the sound of that. It makes me think of….. tests. And I'm not good at tests. They give you all these letters for grades. I liked it better when they gave you numbers. They skip E for some reason! Everyone but me seems to know why, because they all give me _the look_ when I ask. _The look_ is that look that people give me when I say something stupid. I get it a lot…..

I hurry downstairs, where Chris and the man we met earlier are waiting for us. I think that man's name was Mr. Ram? "Okay, everyone!" Chris says loudly. "We need to separate you guys into the dumb people…." He gives me _the look_. I didn't even say anything! "And the smart people." I glance over at Noah, who seems to be really bored about this whole thing. I guess for him, tests aren't a big deal. He's really smart! It's amazing. "Obviously, you smart people will be taking honors and AP classes," he continues. "While the dumb ones will be taking regulars or remedial." He gives me _the look_ again. This is really confusing me. "Mr. Ray will be showing you to the testing rooms."

"Okay, I'll be giving you a guided tour of the school on the way to the testing rooms," Mr. Ray announces. "So pay attention, or else you won't be able to find any of your classes tomorrow." I nod seriously, resolving to pay attention. He opens the door sets off quickly, and because he has long legs, we all have to jog to catch up. Noah looks so good doing athletic stuff! I wish he played a sport so I could watch him all the time…. I trip, too focused on Noah to pay attention to where I'm going. I can't get so easily distracted! I won't be able to find any of my classes otherwise! I'm sorry Noah, but I'll have to avoid looking at you. I stare at Mr. Ray's back intensely, trying to distract myself.

We all walk across the street and Mr. Ray stops in front of a building that's identical to ours. "This is Coconut House," he says, pointing at the house. "More residential students, like yourselves, live there." He turns to the right and walks around to the back of the building. Behind it, there's a giant lake surrounded by small, one-story, lilac buildings. "These are all the buildings you'll have class in. That's the 100 building, the 200 building, 300 building, 400 building, and the 500 building." He points at a building each time he says it's name, but I can't follow it because he does it too quickly. "Each building has rooms that start with the respective number. For example, room 109 will be in the 100 building."

He starts off again, stopping him from asking him to say that again. He takes a small, narrow, path through two of the buildings, that we have to walk two by two through. On the other side, there are three large buildings, painted gold. We turn to the left and enter one of the buildings through glass doors. "This is the Student Union," he tells us. "It's also the cafeteria. All your meals will be eaten here. The kitchen at home is only for emergencies and snacks. Make sure you check the rules on the wall before you eat there." We looked inside, where some people were already eating lunch. My stomach grumbled, reminding me that I hadn't even eaten breakfast, let alone lunch. Mr. Ray led us out of there before I could even ask if I could get some food.

He walked across the path into the building on the opposite side. "This is the Fine Arts building," he explains while walking quickly through the hall. You can hear the song, Can't Touch This by MC Hammer. "Band room," he says, pointing at a large white door where the music is coming from. "Choir room." He gestures at the room opposite to the band room. "Dance hallway." He points down the hallway next to the band room. "Guitar's down there too." He keeps walking, and at the end of the hallway, he points to another door. "Practice rooms." Then, he points at a door that says…. Maintenance Closet? "Orchestra room." He pushes open the doors at the end of the hallway and goes into a building that I hadn't seen from the other side. I follow quickly, not wanting to miss anything important.

"This is the office building. College Advising, the Main Office, the nurse, and the Administrators Offices are all down here. My office is down there." He jerks a thumb at a door that says "Mr. Ray". He opens a door and ushers us all inside. We all stand inside an office, cramped in the small space.

"Miss Oz, they need their pictures taken for their ID cards," Mr. Ray says, not coming inside the small office himself.

"Sure, sure," she grumbles. She sets up a kind of camera and points it at me. "Name?" she asks me.

"Lindsay Delano," I chirp. I smile at the camera and she starts typing on her computer. The machine next to her computer starts to hum and a little card pops out.

She picks it up and holds it out to me. "Here," she says in a bored tone of voice. I take the card from her. My name, picture, and grade are on it. My picture has Noah and Gwen's heads in it though….. I wish it wasn't so cramped in here….

I escape through the still open door and stand outside, waiting for everyone else to be done.

"Eeew, I don't look good in this picture," Katie whines.

"Neither do I," Sadie agrees.

"What is it with girls and their need to complain about pictures?" Noah says, rolling his eyes. Gwen, and several of the other guys nod in agreement.

"I think I look fine in mine!" I say, hoping to get back into his good graces. He ignores me and Beth sends me a sympathetic glance.

Oops. Maybe that came off a little braggy. I hate it when people are braggy. One time at cheer camp, there was this girl who was braggy, Lauren. She was always talking about how she was always the top of the pyramid wherever she went because she could do the best Lady Liberty. So our captain, Mia, made her a base for our performance! She totally couldn't support us, and she dropped everyone the first time we rehearsed. Then our team totally shunned her, and she went home early. I kinda felt a little bad for her, but she shouldn't have bragged so much.

Soon, everyone is ready to go, and Mr. Ray sets off again. He turns around, and we go back through the Fine Arts building. On the other side, he turns to the left and goes into the building we hadn't visited before.

"This is the auditorium," he says, once we're inside. "All our performances are in here. And behind it are all of our athletic fields. " He takes a side door out and we all look at a bunch of different fields. There's a baseball field, a football field, two fields with soccer goals on them, and a tennis court. There's even a swimming pool! It took up a lot of space, because not all of them were even close together!

He points at a small building between the football field and the soccer field. "That's the Café. You can buy stuff there with your ID cards." He turns back, while some of us are still in awe of the giant campus. I look on the football field, and watch the cheerleaders practicing shoulder-sits. When I turn around, everyone's already started to go back. I have to hurry to catch up.

Mr. Ray leads us quickly through the school, back to the lake. He turns into one of the lilac buildings and stops in front of one of the room. "The teacher in here is going to be your homeroom teacher. He'll also be giving you the tests to determine what class you're put into." We all stand there, unsure if there's more to the tour. "Well, go inside!" he says. We all troop inside, and a man stands inside. He's good-looking! He has bright blue eyes, and a wavy reddish-brown hair. Is he the teacher?

"Hello, I'm Mr. J," he says, smiling good-naturedly. "I'll be your homeroom teacher this year. I will also possibly be your American History class. That is, if you do well on this test and get into honors or AP."

We all take a seat in the desks and Mr. J sits on his desk. "Okay, everyone. Remember, everything depends on this. Don't mess up." I giggle nervously and he passes out sheets of paper and pencils to everyone. "The first section is math."

I start to chew on the pencil given to me nervously.

* * *

A/N: Two chapters in a day! WOOHOO! I'm setting records!

I hope this makes up for the filler chapter!


	11. Miss Delano and Mr Woods

Disclaimer: Will nobody join me in my plot to steal TDI? :) Just kiiiidding. Right Izzy? *Both me and Izzy nod furiously while hacking the system on the computer*

Noah's POV

* * *

Ugh, when am I going to be able to get into the bathroom? From what I've seen of it, this school is freakin' rich, but their dorms can only afford to have two bathrooms? I think I've been standing here for an hour, at least! Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but seriously, it has been a while. Finally, one of the doors opens and Bria comes out, wearing only a towel. She smiles at me and blows a kiss at Cody who's next in line.

"Hola, Cody and Noah!" she says. She waltzes away but pauses for a second. "Cody, I want to see the classes of yours! Later, si?" She keeps walking and enters a room at the opposite end of the hall.

I let out a relieved sigh and take my clothes and towel into the bathroom, where I take the fastest shower known to man. As I emerge from the bathroom, Lindsay comes out of the other one.

Figures.

Cody dashes into the bathroom, looking panicked, while the other people in line completely give up on taking a shower this morning. I grab the backpack I got yesterday and quickly run downstairs. Mr. Ray is waiting by the door.

"Cutting it a bit close, Noah," he says, looking at his watch. "8:15. Hurry, you've only got five minutes. I don't understand why everyone's so late!"

I roll my eyes and exit Lilac House, leaving Mr. Ray to ponder the obvious answer to that question.

I rush to Mr. J's room, where I slide into the desk next to Gwen.

"Didn't get up early enough for the bathroom?" she asks me. I nod, still a little out of breath. "Leshawna and I were talking to Bria and she told us to take showers last night. Do you know Bria? She's Sadie's roommate."

"Boy, do I ever know Bria," I mutter. Gwen shoots me a look of confusion. "Long story," I say, by way of explanation.

The door to the room opens and Lindsay enters. How did she get here so much after me when we got out of the bathroom at the same time? "Am I late?" she asks to nobody in particular.

"Just barely made it," Mr. J says, looking at the clock. The seconds tick down to 5, then 4, then 3, then 2-

Cody bursts through the door and slides into a desk. He looks at the clock hopefully and sighs in relief when the bell rings.

"Good job, Mr. Reese," Mr. J says. "Get here earlier next time." He picks up a clipboard and scans the paper. "Miss Arcto."

"Here!" Courtney says smartly.

"Brody."

"What up, dude?" Mr. J looks at Geoff for a moment and evidently decides to discard the greeting.

"Miss Canon."

"Hi," Sadie says.

"Miss Caruso."

"Call me Mastermind!" Izzy insists. Mr. J, unfazed, makes a mark on his chart.

"Miss Casarelli." Eva grunts while unzipping her backpack. "In the future, I'd prefer actual words as an answer."

"Miss Delano."

"Huh?" Lindsay says. I turn around and see her behind me, looking around. "What?"

"Roll call, Lindsay," Beth explains.

"Oh. I'm here!" Lindsay says perkily.

"Evidently," Mr. J says dryly. "Hills?"

"Here," Beth answers.

"Mr. Holliday."

"Here," Trent says.

"Kryll."

Justin brushes his hair behind his shoulders theatrically. "Here."

"Li."

"That's me," Heather says, studying her nails.

"Marchack."

Tyler waves. "Here."

"Marks."

Harold looks up. "Here."

"Martini."

"Right in front of you," Gwen says.

"Moore." Duncan waves at Mr. J. "Mr. Moore, I'd recommend shaving off that thing on your head."

"Whatever," Duncan says dismissively.

"Paul?"

"Here," DJ says.

"Prowse?"

"I'm here, eh," Ezekiel says.

"Purato?"

Owen burps. "Here."

"Mr. Reese, is obviously here." Cody nods. "How about Miss Schuman?"

"I'm here!" Katie chirps.

"And Miss Shale?"

"Whoo, nobody's ever called me that," Leshawna comments.

"Miss Summers?"

"Here," Bridgette says.

"And Mr. Woods."

"That's me," I say.

"Oh, I know," Mr. J says wearily. He rolls his eyes. "You've been a popular topic of conversation for the past few years. Along with Miss Delano."

Lindsay looks up again. "What about me?"

"Nothing important," Mr. J says breezily. "So, I've got the test results from yesterday. I'm sure some of you are going to be surprised, both pleasantly and," he pauses. "Well, not so pleasantly." He walks around, handing out papers with our schedules on it. "I'm going to let you all out of homeroom early today. Go find some of your classes with the free time. Class dismissed."

I check my schedule. All APs. Wasn't really expecting anything less.

As I get up, I see Lindsay staring at her paper with a shocked look on her face. Did she really not expect what she got? I don't think it should come as a big shock.

"Mr. J," Lindsay says. "Did I get the right paper?"

He walks over points at the top. "Yep. See, your name is at the top."

Her eyes widen and her face starts looking…. Excited? "Oh my gosh!" she squeals. "This is like, the best thing ever!" She jumps up and starts to hug people. First she hugs Gwen, then Owen, and then Trent. She grabs me and squeezes me really tight. Suddenly, she freezes and awkwardly stops hugging me. An awkward laugh escapes her lips and she turns to my left. Lindsay pauses when she sees Izzy next to me. She picks up her bag and leaves.

The rest of us trickle out the door. I have AP American History first period which is in… this room. I turn around and go back into Mr. J's room.

He chuckles when I enter the room. "I was wondering when some of you were going to figure out that you had my class first." I grab a seat at the back. I'm not going to bother looking around for the rest of my classes. All the rooms are numbered, and the locations are self-explanatory.

After about ten minutes of "lets catch up on sleep" time, the bell rings and some people start to enter the class. They gradually arrive, and a clump of people come in right before the bell.

Mr. J gets up from sitting on his desk the moment the bell rings. "Welcome to AP American History," he says. "This year we're going to be doing a lot of thinking." He picks up a marker and draws a square on the board. "I want it all to be out here." He puts a bunch of dots outside the box. "Heck, I'd even like for it to be over here!" He runs to the other side of the board and pus a bunch of dots over there. "So-"

The door opens, interrupting what I can already tell is going to be a recurring topic this year. "Sorry I'm late," Lindsay says apologetically, taking the only available seat, next to me. "I got lost."

"Miss Delano, you were just here," Mr. J says sharply.

She laughs sheepishly. "This school is big and confusing."

How did she get in my class? HOW?

* * *

A/N: MWAHAHAHA! I can't wait for the main storyline to start! Ahhh, so much fun. It might take a while to get there though.

Okay, I'm sorry the roll call bit took so much time, but I had to come up with names for every character, so you da** well better appreciate it! *takes deep breath* Sorry. It took a little too much time to do that.

Who loves Bria? She's become one of my favorite OC's. Ever!


	12. Cheerleader At Heart

Disclaimer: I own neither TDI nor TDA. Gah! Maybe I should go into denial......

* * *

Well, today was a really good day! I have almost all classes with Noah, which means I can look at him all day! I have remedial math, but I wasn't really hoping for anything else. Sadie's my math buddy. After I convinced her that Katie was fine in the AP classes and that Katie would want her to be strong, she was really fun! Owen and Justin were in my class too. I think they're in all remedials. Beth did pretty well. She got all honors! I'm totally amazed that I got higher than her.

The only sad part of this is that I have to spend almost all of my classes with Izzy and Courtney because they're really smart. I remember Izzy mentioned something about her IQ being high. They're both a little scary. Plus, I'm mad at Izzy! I was going to thank her for all that work she did with me that made me smarter, but then I remembered that I was mad at her. Being mad at someone is hard work!

The school food here is okay. I have to eat it for all of my meals. It's definitely better than the food at my last school. Today at lunch, I sat with Beth but for some reason, nobody else sat with us! Now that's just bad manners. You've always got to welcome the new girls! It's an important part of school life. I had like, twenty thousand people talk to me today. Most of them wanted to know what it was like being on a reality TV show. Some of them were trying to get me to be on their teams and stuff.

Anyway, right now I'm standing outside my AP English class, wondering where I'm supposed to meet Kiki. I think I should go for the cheerleading squad, even if Nina said I should avoid Kiki. I like cheerleading! Not to be braggy or anything, but I'm good at it too. I had to turn down Nina's offer today. I don't know anything about guard. All that flag twirling looks really hard! The rifles look really heavy too.

Okay…. If I was a cheerleader, where would I be? Well, it's after school, so I'd be at practice. And practice could be…. In the gym…. Or on the football field! Since I don't know where the gym is, the football field it is!

I hoist my bag onto my shoulders and jog towards the football field. It takes me a while to find it, because the map of the school is kind of mixed up in my mind. Thankfully, my guess is right, and I see the cheerleaders practicing on the field.

Kiki catches sight of me and jogs toward me. I lean over the fence to talk to her.

"Hey," she says.

"Hi," I reply.

"Knew you'd come. Wanna meet the squad?" I nod my agreement and open the fence door to get on the field.

"Okay, girls," Kiki announces. "This is our newest member, Lindsay!"

"Oh my god, is she-" one of the girls starts to say.

"The girl from Total Drama Island? Yes," Kiki interrupts her.

"I wasn't going to say that," the girl says. "I've never watched that show actually."

Kiki's jaw literally drops. "Do a lap."

"What?" the girl says incredulously.

"For that, just do a lap," Kiki says, closing her eyes and shaking her head. The girl frowns and starts to run around the track surrounding the football field. Kiki waits for her to finish before continuing. "So, Lindsay, what school did you go to before here?"

"North Shore," I say proudly.

"N-north Shore?" Kiki sputters. "North Shore Falcons? Number one cheerleaders in the country for the past five years?"

"Yup!" I smile wide.

She smiles slyly. "Could you show us a cheer?"

"Sure!" I agree. I drop my bag on the ground and stand with my hands on my hips. "We are the Falcons, the highlight of the show! We are the best! You know!" I break into our short funky dance routine. I pop my chest out, to the right and to the left. Then I do the sprinkler to the left and do the running man three times. I do a herkie, and to finish it off, I run to the side and do a front flip full twist. I end with my hands making a sharp V and I smile widely at the nonexistent crowd.

I slap my hands to my sides and turn back to the cheerleaders, who break into applause. Yay, I guess it was good!

"You are so on our squad. I think I'm going to make you my co-captain!" Kiki says gleefully.

"But I'm your co-captain!" Mia protests.

"That was before Lindsay came, Mimi," Kiki tells her. "The only reason I kept you was because you were at North Shore. You were only a middle schooler! Lindsay was actually on the squad!"

Mimi gasps and I see a tear drip down her face as she runs off the field. Oh, I feel bad!

Actually, I remember someone like her following us around at North Shore. She was kind of annoying, but she was really helpful! She did chores and stuff for us. Well, she's only a freshman. She'll have her chance to be captain when she's older.

"So, where's your coach?" I ask Kiki.

"Oh, Miss Stallone." Kiki's face twists distastefully. "She's over there." She points and I follow her finger to see a woman with birds nest hair and glasses on the end of her nose scribbling on a clipboard. She's wearing one of the _hideously _tacky Juicy Couture sweat suits from last season. Ouch, major fashion faux pas.

"So, are we going to practice?" I ask excitedly.

* * *

A/N: Yes, it's kind of a short chapter, but this is all that I had to say for this chapter.

I might not write anything this week! I'll either be writing my other story **Lindsay in Wonderland** or living life.... :) Sorry.


	13. Are You Ready For FOOTBALL?

Disclaimer: I STILL don't own TDI....

* * *

**Lindsay's POV**

**

* * *

**It's Friday. Game day! Normally it's kind of exciting with a little bit of nervous thrown in, especially for the first game. But this game is…. well, I hate to say it but……

Okay, the cheerleaders at this school aren't that good. And that's being super super nice about it. The first cheer I learned went like this:

_We're so hot!_

_To trot!_

_We're not gonna lose!_

_Woohoo!_

Personally, I don't think it's very good. Maybe it's just me?

Our coach, Miss Stallone not only has bad fashion sense, but she doesn't ever coach us. I think she's too afraid of Kiki. I asked Kiki why Miss Stallone was so afraid of her and she said something about some pictures she had of her. I wonder what's so bad about those pictures?

But, anyway, after the game a bunch of the cheerleaders are having a party. Kiki went ahead and got permission from Mr. Ray to let me go, so I've got my first party of the year! I'm really excited. Right now it's like, five minutes after the end of school so I went home to plan my outfit. I've only got ten minutes until cheer practice so I've got to make a quick decision. Right now, it's between my hot pink tube dress and my black spaghetti strap with my silver mini skirt. Actually, maybe I should layer the tops if I wear that outfit. Umm, I guess the blue spaghetti would be prettier on top and the black one on the bottom. Okay, that's the outfit I'll wear! I've just got to choose the shoes….

* * *

**Noah's POV**

* * *

I'm standing outside the room I share with Cody, checking to make sure Bria wasn't inside. If you can't hear anything at all, they're probably inside, making out. You have to stay outside listening for a while. If you hear moaning, a sucking noise, etc. then they're inside. If you hear nothing at all, then most likely they're not inside.

It's an art.

Behind me, Lindsay rushes out of her room carrying a cheerleading bag and simultaneously putting her hair up. I have no idea how girls do that. She bumps into me and rushes down the hallway. "Sorry!" she calls back without looking.

Finally I conclude that Bria's probably not in the room. I open the door and see Bria standing in front of me. "Hola, Noah!" she says chipperly. She pushed past me into the hallway.

Okay, obviously I haven't perfected this art yet.

I enter the room and see Cody lying on the bed with an obnoxiously wide grin on his face.

"Someone's happy," I comment. I dumped my backpack on the ground.

"Mmmhmmm," he replies. A worried look suddenly appears on his face. He sits up and looks at me seriously. "Hey, would you mind doing me a favor?"

"Depends what it is," I say.

"C'mon, will you?" he begs.

"What is it?" I ask, not agreeing to anything.

"Will you try out for the school play with me?" Cody asks hopefully.

"No," I say flatly. I pull some books out of my bag to start my homework.

"It'll be fun!" he says.

"That's top of my list of things that people say that are never true," I tell him.

"Have some school spirit!"

"If I had school spirit I'd be going to the football game tonight with my body painted purple and gold," I say sarcastically.

"I dunno why that seemed like such a bad idea to you," he says, pouting.

"Did Bria suggest it?" I ask.

"Yeah, why?"

"That's why."

"Hey, not all of her ideas are bad!" he protests. "The school play thing was her idea!"

I chuckle. "Knew it."

He sighs. "Will you at least come to the game with us tonight?"

"Sure, sure," I say, resigned. "No body paint?"

He grins. "Not if you don't want."

* * *

**Lindsay's POV**

**

* * *

**_The Kings _(Clap Clap)

_Are in the house_

_The Kings _(Clap Clap)

_Are in the house_

_Win Win Win!_

I stop cheering and slap my hands on my hips. "What do you think Kiki?" I ask hopefully.

She frowns. "I don't think adding a new cheer now is such a great idea."

"Oh," I say, my hopes dashed. "That's fine then." I was hoping to have a better cheer for the game. It's not that hard of a cheer. I came up with it in like, ten minutes! Everyone could learn it in a few seconds!

She smiles at me. "Let's stretch. We've only got twenty minutes to the game." She claps her hands and turns to the girls on the squad. "Are you ready?" she yells.

"Yeah!" everyone screams back.

Both of us sit on the ground and reach for our toes.

"One, two, thee, four," we all chant.

* * *

**Noah's POV**

**

* * *

**"Noah!" Bria whines. "Stop moving!"

"You said no paint," I say to Cody, shooting him an accusing stare.

"You said no to the body paint," Bria says, darting her finger out to put a line of paint on my face. I jerk my face away. "Face painting is the least you can do."

"I'm doing it Noah!" Cody says.

"_She _convinced you to do it," I grumbled. "And you're completely purple and gold." I scoot away from Bria. She simply follows me down the bleacher seats until I'm trapped against the wall.

"Don't move!" she commands me. She sticks her finger in the pot of purple paint and swipes some on my face. "Okay," she says, screwing the cap back on the pot. "Now for the glitter!" She pulls out a tube of gold glitter. She starts to unscrew the top and I sprint down the bleachers, giving up on convincing her to leave me alone.

"No way you're putting that on my face!" I yell back at her.

"I'll get it on you somehow!" she yells, chasing after me.

"Over my dead body!" I jump off the stands onto the ground and set off running. Bria follows behind me, brandishing her glitter tube like a weapon. Damn, she's fast! How is she that fast with those short legs? Why didn't I think about my lack of athletic ability before I started running away? She going to catch me in five… four… three…

"Gotcha!" she cheers. She squirts her entire tube over me and several innocent bystanders. Glitter sprinkles down from the air, all over me. Stupid, stupid dust.

"Briiiiaaaa," I groan.

I make my way back to the stands to our seats and desperately try to get the glitter off.

"Maybe you should have gone with the body paint," Cody says, snickering.

I shoot him the glare of death while Bria snuggles up next to him, smiling smugly.

* * *

A/N: Well, I've finally written the next chapter. Don't expect too much, I've got homecoming this week and exams next week.

Ah, Bria is so funny!


	14. Party Down

Disclaimer: I had this totally amazing dream last night where I owned TDI! I was great!

And then I woke up and realized I still don't own it..... (Haha, just kiddin!)

* * *

**Lindsay's POV**

**

* * *

**_We love (Clap Clap)_

_Our Kings! (Clap Clap)_

_We love (Clap Clap)_

_Our Kings! (Clap Clap)_

We stop cheering and yell after the football team as they leave the field. "Good hustle guys!" I yell.

"Love you Brady!" Kiki yells.

"Great game guys!" Mimi screams.

Okay, it wasn't really a great game. 42 – 7 is a pretty bad loss. Our football team is really terrible.

Oh, but halfway through the game, I saw Noah in the stands! Gold glitter is such a good look for him. I wouldn't have thought he would be all school spirity, but he had his face painted and was totally covered in glitter! He was with Cody and his girlfriend. You know, I don't think Cody really should have painted his chest gold and purple. It's kind of not a good look for him. He's too bony. It's kind of like, ick! Now if Noah did that……

"Earth to Lindsay!" Kiki says, an annoyed look on her face. "We've got to go get ready! Grab your clothes and meet me at my car in ten minutes, okay?"

I nod furiously and jog off, grabbing my bag on the way. After dashing to the dorms, I change speedily and do my nails in record time. Of course, when I look at the clock, twelve minutes have already passed. Oh no! Kiki is _such _a sticker for time! I dash to the parking lot, quite an accomplishment when you're wearing six inch heels.

"Yoooou're late," Kiki says impatiently, opening her car door. She slid into the drivers seat and turns on the engine. I open the door and sit in the back seat.

"Too bad about the game, Brady," I say sympathetically.

"S'all good," he grunts.

Kiki leans over and kisses him on the cheek. "Hey, you scored the only touchdown! Pretty impressive!" she tells him. Brady leans over and kisses her on the lips, blocking her view of the road. Good thing we're still in the parking lot. "Brady!" she squeals, pushing him away. She giggles and he slouches back into his seat.

Aren't they so cute? They're going out.

"Kiki, how far away do you-" I start to ask.

"Shhh!" she says, cutting me off. "I need total concentration!"

"She demands total silence in her car," Brady says without turning around.

"That applies to you too!" she snaps.

"Yeah, yeah. Sheesh," Brady mutters.

The ride continues in total silence, true to Kiki's rule. Finally, she turns into a community and pulls up in front of a house. It already has about ten cars in the front and you can hear the music from the car. Sounds like a fun party! I jump out of the car and adjust my mini skirt. I saunter towards the house with Brady and Kiki in front of me. Kiki knocks on the door and Mimi comes to the door. She's holding a red plastic cup and is wearing a clingy blue dress. It totally looks great on her!

"Hey guys," Mimi says. She shoots me an angry glare and I cringe a little bit. I feel sorta bad that I took her spot as co-captain, but seriously, freshmen don't _ever _get that position. _Ever_!

Kiki pushes into the house, not bothering to greet Mimi. It's kinda rude, but she has that right as cheer captain. Brady follows in behind her and walk in after them. I give Mimi a smile but she simply looks at me angrily.

Inside, an amazing party is…. well, being partied! There's this huge group of dancing people and the house is pretty large. Some snacks are placed strategically around the house. That's a big part of planning a great party. If the snacks aren't put in the right place, you have to interrupt a totally amazing dancing moment to go get a snack. Same with the drinks. Mimi apparently hasn't got the memo about placing drinks around. I don't see any drinks actually. Maybe she keeps them in the kitchen. I hate it when you have to go into someone's kitchen to get stuff.

The music is great too! Down by Jay Sean is playing and the people dancing are good dancers. I push my way into the crowd and start to dance. The song changes to Lady Gaga's song Paparazzi. I put my best effort into looking good and dancing well at the same time. It's really hard. I've spent years working on it. Trust me, it doesn't come naturally. I'm pretty sure I looked like some huge dork when I first tried it in middle school. Making it look easy is part of the skill.

After about half an hour of serious dancing, I head off to find a drink.

"Heeeey, babe," a guy slurs. I think he's on the track team. "Yer a cuuuutie. Good dancer too. Wanna gimme your number?"

I smile politely. "Um, how about you give me yours instead?"

"Sssounds good," he says.

"Go find a pen and come back, okay?"

"Sssure," he says, swaying on the spot. He turns to walk away and I catch a sniff of his breath. I could swear I smell alcohol…..

I'm a pro at getting rid of guys like that. Happens to me all the time.

I leave the area hurriedly and find a room that looks like a kitchen. There are a bunch of guys standing around something, cheering.

"Chug, chug, chug, chug, chug, chug!" they chant. I push through the crowd and see a guy chugging a drink out of a red plastic cup. On the ground is a keg.

Ugh, I hate parties with drunk people. I always leave before they get too drunk. I can't drink because you get kicked off the squad if you're caught. I wouldn't have thought there would have been beer at a party thrown by the cheerleading squad. Cheerleader at my old school were totally anal about that. Drinking is not worth being kicked off the squad.

Kiki stumbles past me holding two cups. "Here!" she says abruptly, thrusting a cup at me. "Drink up!" She laughs and takes a swig of her drink.

I take a sniff of the drink she gave me. Yep, definitely beer.

"Maybe you shouldn't be drinking that?" I say, trying to take her cup away from her.

She clenches onto it and pulls away. "Miiiine!" she whines. She catches sight of Brady and runs up to him. "Hey, big boy," she purrs, tracing his jaw line. "Wanna have some fun?"

Instead of answering, he picks her up and kisses her. She wraps her legs around his waist and he stumbles off.

Okay, I kind of want to go home now. It's not that late, and everyone already seems to be drunk. How am I going to get back anyway? Kiki's completely wasted, I don't want to be in the same car as her!

I sigh and pull out my cell phone. I go through my contacts and select Mr. Ray.

He did say to ask him for help in emergencies, right?

* * *

A/N: Uh-oh.... I don't see this ending well! (I especially don't, because I've already planned what I'm going to write)

Thanks for reading!


	15. Believe

Disclaimer: Whoah, I don't own TDI! Who ever said I did? *looks around, shifty-eyed*

* * *

**Noah's POV**

**

* * *

**I pull up in front of the house and turn off the car. The house in front of me looks completely trashed, with toilet paper thrown around the front and several people passed out on the front lawn. Typical of cheerleaders to have a wild party. Lindsay's high airy voice floats towards me.

"Go away, please!" she squeals.

The guy standing in front of her leans towards her. "C'mon, you know you like me."

"N-no, I've don't!" she insists, leaning backwards.

I sigh and roll down the window. I stick my head out the window and call to her. "Lindsay!"

Relief floods her face and she slips away from the drunken guy and dashes towards the car. She slides into the seat next to me and lets out a sigh of relief.

"Thanks so much for coming!" she says, sincerity practically radiating from her being.

"Yeah," I mutter. Whatever. How I even got here is kind of beyond me.

* * *

_I trudge into the dorm wearily after finally getting away from Bria and Cody. They tried to convince me to go to a party at the other dorm with them. And when I say "convince" I mean "drag me kicking and screaming into the party and keep me under watch." Yeah, that wasn't part of the deal. I managed to sneak off after they started making out. Talk about a physical couple. _

_As I start down the hallway, the sound of a phone resonates throughout the house. I pause, waiting for somebody to pick up. Nobody does, as the house is deserted, and it goes to answering machine._

"_H-hello?" Lindsay's voice says. "Is anyone there? I'm stuck at this party and Kiki's drunk and I don't want her driving me home and this guy-" She pauses. "I wasn't serious! I don't want your number!" she says distractedly to somebody. "And I need a ride! Is anyone there? Please pick up!"_

_I sigh while she continues to prattle on and on, and go pick up the phone. "Hi. It's Noah. Where are you?"_

_

* * *

_"How'd you get the car?" Lindsay asks me as I speed down the road.

"I signed out the dorm car," I explain shortly.

"You're so lucky! You have your license," Lindsay says.

"Don't you?"

"I've only got my permit." She frowns and stares intensely at the rearview mirror. "I failed the test. I'm not a very good driver. You're a good driver!" I don't respond, opting to concentrate on the road.

"Hey, are you still mad at me?" she asks abruptly. She stares at me, a hopeful look on her face.

I look away, determined to not be swayed by her expression. "Ye-" I pause, thinking of the kicked puppy dog look that is sure to appear. "A little," I amend.

Her face falls and the puppy dog look appears nonetheless. "I'm soooo sorry I dropped that soup on you!" Her eyes widen and she leans closer to me, her hands clasped together.

I blink a few times. "I had forgotten about that actually."

A look of confusion appears on her face. "Then what?"

I give her an incredulous look before looking back at the road. "The Izzy thing," I say, reluctant to actually detail the incident.

She realizes what I am talking about and opens her mouth to protest. "I didn't have anything to do with that!" she insists, her face full of remorse. "Izzy did that on her own!"

"Yeah, right," I say sarcastically.

"That's sarcasm," she says unsurely. I nod. No duh, genius. "Really, I didn't!"

"Whatever." I turn the wheel and pull into the school. "We're here." I turn into the parking lot and park in the residential car spot. I grab the keys and jump out of the car quickly.

She trots behind me, slightly hampered by her heels. "Don't you believe me?" she says pathetically. I ignore her and walk quickly to the dorm with her stare on my back.

"Goodnight, Lindsay," I say firmly, rushing to get to my room.

* * *

**Lindsay's POV**

**

* * *

**I thought he was okay with it. I thought he might have gotten over it. I thought he might have cared about me. He came to help me. I thought we were friends!

A tear snakes its way down my face as I watch his retreating back and hear his footsteps up the stairs. A sob escapes my throat and it triggers full blown crying. I sink to the ground and lean against the wall next to the door. There I cry quietly, thinking of Noah's back and him refusing to look at me.

The door cracks open and a girl comes in. I recognize her, she's the girl on the guard. She trips over my feet and notices my tear streaked face.

"Lindsay, what's wrong?" Nina asks.

"N-nothing, Nica," I say, turning away.

"You're bawling in the hallway, alone, and in the dark. Something's wrong," Nina replied dryly. I sniffle and Nina scoots closer to me. "Seriously, what's wrong?"

"N-noah," I manage to get out.

"The tan kid?" Nina asks. I nod. "What did he do?"

"He got mad at me!" I wail.

"I can go talk to him if you want," she says, her face looking slightly threatening.

"Don't do that," I beg her. I slump against the wall. "I just thought-." I hesitate. "I thought we were getting closer. And now he hates me!"

Nina gives me a questioning look. "Do you _like _him?" I give her a quick nod. "Don't worry, I'm sure he doesn't hate you. And I could always help you two make up!"

"Really?" I say happily. "You'd do that?"

She nods. "Sure! And I know someone who'd loooooove to help you two get together. She kind of thinks of herself as a matchmaker. Thinks she's pretty good at it too. She always talks about all the friends she matched up 'back in her home country.'" She stands up and stretches. "So, I'll go get the jacket she asked me for, and the two of us will go talk to her okay? She's at the party."

I jump up, feeling a little better. "Sure!" I wipe my tears and follow her as she heads upstairs.

* * *

A/N: I can't wait for the next chapter. I'm so mad I didn't have time to finish it today. I barely had enough time to finish this one.


	16. Loudspeaker

Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Total Drama Island. Those belong to others.

A/N: **WARNING!** There's a lot of switching views in this chapter. It was how I wanted to tell this chapter. I don't think there will be any more chapters like this one. Don't hold me to that!

* * *

**Noah's POV**

* * *

Monday. Ugh. I'm sick of school already and it's only the second week. I need to get a hobby or something. Some extracurriculars to beef up my resume, maybe. _Something_ so I'm not completely and utterly bored after school. My after school activities include trying to avoid catching Bria and Cody making out (or doing _other _things) and doing homework. Fun.

I grab my backpack and sling it over my shoulder. Cody follows me out of our room. He's actually awake today. Bria disappeared for a while over the weekend, eliminating the problem he was having with lack of sleep. Spending all your nights hanging with your girlfriend until late affects your sleep. Shocker.

We both slide into our seats, comfortably early.

* * *

**Lindsay's POV**

* * *

Monday. Ugh. I've been scared about this. It's actually worse than I thought. I'm so nervous! After I left that message on the answering machine, of course Mr. Ray heard it. He called me in yesterday to ask me about it. He said he was going to have to talk with the whole cheerleading squad.

Sitting in homeroom is nerve-wracking, and even the sight of Noah doesn't calm me down. Rather, it makes me more nervous.

Nina went and got Bria to help us out and the two of them were totally stuck together all night. Yeah, Bria did say she'd help me, but she kind of didn't tell me much about it. She said it was better if I didn't know what she was going to do, but if she asked me to do something weird, to just go with it. I kind of wonder if there's a reason she won't tell me what she's going to do.

The loudspeaker crackles and I jump about a foot into the air. "Would all the members of the cheerleading squad please report to the Dean's office please?" Mr. Ray's voice says.

I take a deep breath and run out of the classroom.

* * *

**Noah's POV**

* * *

Cody turns toward me. "Do you know what that's about?" he asks.

"Why would I?" I reply in a bored tone.

"Sorry, sorry," he says, his arms up defensively. Apparently he read some anger in my words. It wasn't there, obviously. "You used to be really good friends with her."

"Well, I'm not anymore," I say harshly. "She has nothing to do with me."

* * *

**Lindsay's POV**

**

* * *

**"What were you girls thinking?" Mr. Ray barks.

He's a lot scarier when he's mad.

"Lindsay's lying!" Kiki protests. She covertly sends a vicious glare at me. "She wants to get rid of me and become cheer captain!"

Miss Stallone snorts derisively. "Seriously, Kiki?"

Kiki sends her a look that clearly says: You want to try me, bi**h?

"Lindsay had to be picked up by another student who can verify the nature of the party," Miss Stallone says coolly, unfazed by Kiki.

No! Don't bring Noah into this! He's angry enough at me as it is!

* * *

**Noah's POV**

* * *

The loudspeaker crackled for the second time during that morning. "Will Noah Woods please report to the Dean's office?"

"Nothing to do with you?" Cody says quietly as I pass by. I roll my eyes. Some friend, eh?

As I walk down the hall, I contemplate what this is about. Actually, I just come to a conclusion, not contemplation involved. It has to have something to do with that party. I've barely even talked to Lindsay in the past week, except for that incident.

That has to be it.

* * *

**Lindsay's POV**

* * *

"Now, after we've verified this, we'll take immediate action," Miss Stallone says authoritatively. "All those involved will be kicked of the squad immediately, and it will be going on your permanent record."

I hear a few murmurs of protest but Miss Stallone looks around the room sharply. "Would you all like a suspension?"

"No, Miss Stallone," we all chorus.

The door to the office cracks open and Noah steps into the room.

* * *

**Noah's POV**

* * *

Why, oh why do I have to be right? Why is it exactly what I thought it was?

"Mr. Woods, you went to pick up Miss Delano at the party on Friday?" Mr. Ray asks me.

I nod.

"And how much did you see of the party?" some lady with messy blonde hair says.

I shrug. "I saw some of the cheerleaders puking in the bushes and some guy that was completely drunk, but other than that, not much."

The lady grins, an almost victorious look on her face. "I think that's all the proof we need," she says quickly.

Joy. I can get out of here quickly. I turn to leave and see Lindsay giving me a grateful look. Her attention turns back to messy hair lady and she starts to seem anxious. I suddenly have the urge to comfort her, to do _something_. I squash the urge, and hurry out of the office, wondering at myself.

* * *

**Lindsay's POV**

* * *

"You may all leave now," Mr. Ray says. We all comply, and Miss Stallone follows us out.

"Um, Miss Stallone?" I ask, hanging back from the group.

"Yes, Lindsay?"

"What's going to happen to me?"

She sighs. "You aren't part of the cheerleading squad anymore." All hopes I have are dashed quickly. "You were never really part of it to begin with. Kiki used her power over me to do whatever she wanted. But now she can't do anything to me because I can always threaten to expose her for all the other parties she's thrown. I don't know why I didn't think of this before."

"Okay," I say sadly. I'm not sure if that last thing she talked about was really meant for me. As it is, I've got to talk to Nina. I'm sure she'll make me feel better somehow.

* * *

A/N: Were you guys too too annoyed by this format for the chapter? Were there too many viewpoint switches? Tell me in a review!


	17. The Thespian Kidnapper

Disclaimer: I don't own TDI. Move on.

* * *

**Lindsay's POV**

* * *

"Nina!" I yell down the hallway. The dark haired girl turns around and waves. She jogs towards me quickly.

"Hey, I've been looking for you," Nina says once she's close to me.

"Same," I tell her. "I've got some news."

"Oh, what?" she asks.

"I'm not part of the cheerleading squad anymore," I say sadly, looking down at the lilac tile floor.

"Oh," she says slowly. She exhales out of her mouth loudly. "That's…" She wrinkles her mouth up in a strange expression. I don't get what she's thinking. "Well," she continues, "My news might cheer you up." She smiles tentatively. "Bria thought of some ideas. She really wants to use one of them and it wasn't going to work. Unless you quit the cheerleading squad." She laughs, short and awkward.

"Well, that's good then," I say excitedly. "What's that saying again? Something about a cloud?"

"Every cloud has a silver lining," she says, a smile of relief on her face. "And." She pauses, lost in thought for a moment. She blinks and looks at me with a determined face. "Would you consider joining the guard?"

"Maybe," I say, resolving to consider it.

"Cool. Bye!" She turns and walks down the hallway purposefully.

"Wait!" I call after her. "What was the idea?"

"Come to the fine arts building after school tomorrow!" she responds, without turning around.

Huh. I'm still in the dark.

* * *

_**The Next Day**_

_**

* * *

**_**Noah's POV**

* * *

Once again, I've been kicked out of my own room. Actually, it's my choice to not be there, but would you like to be around the mushy mushy couple while they make out on the bed? Didn't think so. So, instead of getting started on the pound of math homework I have, I'm wandering around the school, with nothing else to do, on a Tuesday afternoon. Woohoo.

I pause in front of the auditorium for a moment, reading some idiot's idea for a practical joke.

_Warning_, it reads. _Do not enter! Danger inside._

Umm, yeah. Hilarious. I'm dying of laughter. I take the sign off the door, and enter the auditorium, meaning to put the sign in the trash.

The second I step inside, I'm attacked by a giant bat. Or the closest thing a human can get to looking like a giant bat. That's the effect you get when they have a giant fabric poncho on.

"Hello, hello!" she trills. She clasps my hands and I just stare at her, taken aback. "You want to try out? Good, good! We're always happy to embrace other students into our fold!"

"Actually, I'm not here-"

"Oh, I _know _dear! But trying out for one play shows you the _true joy _of the dramatic arts!" She continues to yammer, ignoring my best attempts to get away. She slings a "friendly" arm around my shoulder and steers me into the auditorium. She stops in front of a row of chairs with a group of students already sitting there. She practically sits me down and runs off back towards the door.

"She caught you too?" Gwen says sympathetically.

"What is wrong with her?" I say incredulously. I get back up, planning to leave.

"Don't even try," Gwen advises me. "Trust me, she'll catch you and bring you back."

"Ha, I knew he'd fall for it," Nina muttered to Katie. "Pay up!"

Katie sighs and pulls out her wallet. "C'mon, the sign was sooooo not a sure thing."

"It's in his nature to be contrary to things like that," Nina says loudly. She sends a glance at me, and I suddenly have a strong feeling that I'm being talked about.

"I'm just so glad to have you two!" the lady cries, leading two new victims towards us.

"Lady, we were just passing by and-" Duncan tries to say.

"Then that is the beginning of your journey into the wonderful world of drama!" she says over him.

"But-" Geoff starts.

"No buts!" she says firmly. "Just jump right in! Take the plunge!" She sits them down next to me and they give her strange looks as she walks away.

"What's with _her_?" Duncan asks, staring after her.

The guy I met the other day, I think his name was Russ, speaks up. "Ms. Tasha's desperate for people. The senior class for the past two years has been huge and we lost almost all of our thespians."

"So she's kidnapping all the people that walk by?" Duncan asks sarcastically, slouching in his chair.

DJ nods fearfully. "Yup," Russ answers cheerfully.

"Well, I'm outta here," Duncan announces, standing up abruptly. "You with me Geoff?"

"Nah, it could be fun," Geoff says with a smile.

"Your loss," Duncan says, walking away.

"She _will_ catch you and bring you back," Gwen calls after him.

"Let's see her try," Duncan replies.

Gwen smirks. "Go for it."

Duncan saunters cockily towards the door. Just as he's about to open the door, Ms. Tasha appears out of nowhere and puts a hand on his shoulder. "I know you're getting impatient, but we'll be starting soon. Patience is a virtue!" She smiles with a face that obviously says: You leave, you die.

I almost laugh at Duncan's face as she leads him back to his seat. Beside me, Gwen actually does.

"Told you," she says, still laughing a bit.

Three people come in of their own free will and sit in the row of soon-to-be drama students.

"Don't worry, he'll be here, Cody!" Bria says chipperly. She catches sight of me and points at me. "See! Told you! Good news, right Lindsay?" She gives the blonde beside her a side-hug.

"I thought you said you weren't coming?" Cody whispers to me. I just shake my head in response.

In front of us, Ms. Tasha hops onto the stage and claps her hands in a business-like manner. "Shall we get started?" she ask rhetorically. "Now, as you all know, rehearsals are every day after school from 4 to 9. On Saturdays rehearsal is from 9 am to 3 pm and on Sunday it's from 3 pm to 9 pm. The wonderful date for our performance is October 25th!"

That's a lot of rehearsing.

"What play are we even doing?" I whisper to Gwen.

"West Side Story," she whispered back.

"So, who's trying out for what?" Ms. Tasha asks. She points at me. "You're going for?"

"Tony," I say, nonchalant. I haven't seen this play in ages, actually, since my sister forced me to watch it. That's actually one of the only characters I remember. She went down the line, asking each person the same question. Almost all of the guys answered Tony, excepting Russ, who wants to be Bernardo, and DJ, who wants to be Doc. Pretty much the same thing with the girls. All of them wanted to be Maria, except for Bria and Nina, who both want to be Anita.

The door to the auditorium suddenly opens, and a cold wind blows in. "Am I late?" Kiki asks, flouncing in. She dumps her bags on the ground and sits down.

"Fashionably," Ms. Tasha says, with a smile that's too wide. "And what are you trying out for?"

"Maria, of course," Kiki says, like it's the most obvious thing in the world.

Ms. Tasha hands out copies of the script to us and calls me up on stage. "Read from page two. Remember, Tony was just told out that his love, Maria was killed by Chino. Do it with feeling!"

I stare at the script for a moment. If I'm going to do this, I'd rather not be Townsperson Number Two. I guess I'll actually try. I take a quick breath and start.

"Chino?" I cry, whirling around to look for somebody that isn't there. "C'mon, get me too!" I roar.

"Tony," Ms. Tasha whispers.

"Who's that?" I ask accusingly.

"Me, Anybodys."

"Get outa here," I respond, jerking my head at her. "Hey, Chino! COME GET ME DAMN YOU!" I make my voice crack on the last few words.

"What're ya doin', Tony?" Ms. Tasha asks.

"I said get outa here!" I snarl at her. "Chino!"

"Look, maybe if you and me just-"

"It's not playing anymore!" I twist my face into a mask of pain and anger, putting every ounce of the feelings I have into it. "Can't any of you get that?" I ask. I stare at Ms. Tasha accusingly, and she drops her eyes.

In a flash, she breaks from character. "Very good! And you are?"

"Noah Woods," I answer.

"Here's the audition music for Tony. Unless you want to sing a different song?"

"Nah, I'm good," I say. Doesn't matter what song I sing.

She hands me a sheet of music and I scan it for a moment, suddenly grateful for my short stint in the band. I guess my mother was right when she said that reading music was sure to come in handy sometime. Ms. Tasha presses the play button on a CD player and the music starts.

"The most beautiful sound I ever heard," I start to sing. "Maria, Maria, Maria, Maria." The song continues, and I sound pretty damn good, if I say so myself. My voice cracks once near the end, but other than that it was great. Especially because I hit that one high note at the end, pretty much perfectly.

When the song is over, I walk off the stage and take my seat again.

"You were good," Gwen whispers.

"I know," I reply, smirking.

She punches me lightly and laughs. "Don't be so humble," she says sarcastically.

"I try." The rest of the reading auditions continue, but almost none of the guys reading for Tony are as good as me. Now if Russ and DJ had tried for Tony, I would have had real competition. As it is, Duncan is my only competition. The guy managed to belt out the Jet Song, perfectly in tune, without even seeing the music. I sort of wish I had it on camera for blackmail. I hate to say it, but the guy sings like an angel. Well, an angel with a green Mohawk and several piercings that could beat you to bits if he wanted. Yeah.

"We _never _speak of this," he said, giving us a threatening glare as he sat down.

"No, but I'm sure we'll never forget about it," I muttered to Gwen. She laughed and nodded.

Now, the _girls'_ auditions were pretty interesting. Katie went first, and did a _terrible _job singing "I Feel Pretty." She has a sort of deep singing voice, and could barely attempt getting that high. Her acting was perfectly fine, nothing special. A bunch of other girls that I don't know went after her, all with mediocre voices and acting talent. Gwen went after that. She's a great singer, and she can _act. _Practically made the stage light up.

Now, Bria's a whole different story.

When she's finish with her reading, I have the urge to break out into applause. Next to me, Cody actually does, and she bows and blows him a kiss. "I'm going to be singing 'A Boy Like That.'" She looks straight down into the audience and points at Gwen. "And she'll sing with me."

Gwen blinks a few times and hops onto the stage with no hesitation. "Music please," Bria says.

The music starts and Bria's expression transforms into one of bitterness, desperation, and sadness. "A boy like that would kill your brother," she sings, perfectly on the pitch and full of feeling. "Forget that boy, and find another. One of your own kind, stick to your own kind!" She takes a deep breath. "A boy like that would bring you sorrow. You'll meet another boy tomorrow. One of your own kind, stick to your own kind! A boy who kills cannot love, a boy who kills has no heart. And he's the boy who gets your love and gets your love. Very smart, Maria, very smart!"

She sings another few lines, rife with sorrow and realistic feelings, before Gwen comes in.

"Oh, no, Anita no! Anita, no," Gwen sings, grabbing Bria's hand. "It isn't true, not for me. It's true for you, not for me. I hear your words, and in my head, I know they're smart! But my heart! Anita, but my heart!"

The two start to sing, perfectly in harmony, complimenting each other. Their voices weave in and out, and instantly, everyone knows exactly who's getting the parts. When they're done, Bria hops off the stage and takes her seat again.

"You were so good!" Lindsay squeals. "You and Gwen are totally getting those parts!"

Bria's eyes widen. "Shoot! I wanted you to get that part!" She sighs. "You just have to be better than her. You can sing right?"

"Ummm," Lindsay says doubtfully.

Lindsay goes next, and she stands on the stage, rocking back and forth nervously. Nina runs up to the stage and whispers something to Lindsay. Lindsay nods quickly, her eyes lighting up.

"Okay, read from page six," Ms. Tasha instructs her.

Lindsay flips to the page and scans it. When she reads, she's reading from the end, where Tony dies. It's believably sad, but it's not the great performance Gwen gave.

Now when she started to sing "I Feel Pretty….." Completely and utterly normal. It actually sounds bad after Gwen and Bria. Bria has her head in her hands and Cody is leaning towards her, asking what's wrong.

Nina goes next. Her audition if anything, goes worse than Lindsay's. She's not that great of an actor, but she's a good singer.

Kiki goes last. She's a fine actor. Only one problem.

She can't sing. She wouldn't know an in tune not if it hit her in the face. She can't carry a note in a bucket. I think my ears started to bleed when she sang. She's one of those people where I _hope _she gets stuck as Townsperson Number Four so we don't ever have to hear her sing.

Thankfully, after that, the auditions are over. I grab my bags, and Gwen and I walk towards the dorm together.

"You sounded great," I tell her, giving out a rare compliment.

"I know," she replies, mimicking me.

We laugh together, and I smile at her, her singing still resounding in my mind.

* * *

A/N: I've FINALLY gotten to the point! This is where I've been trying to go the whole time. The play is supposed to be the main point, but I couldn't do it unless I did all that setting up in the beginning. YAY! I'm sooooo excited to post who gets what part. Some of it is obvious, and some of it isn't.


	18. The Cast

Disclaimer: I don't own TDI. Yup.

* * *

**Noah's POV**

* * *

"You know, I wouldn't have thought she'd have cast it that fast," I remark to Gwen.

She shrugs. "There aren't any callbacks. And everyone got a part."

"Huh," I say noncommittally, staring into the crowd of people around the cast list. I sort of wonder what I got, but not enough to push through that crowd. I'm pretty sure I didn't get something like Gang Member Three though, so I can wait just fine to find out, unlike these imbeciles.

"Congrats," some guy with shaggy blonde hair says. Well, that's a good sign.

Bria hops up next to me. Yes, she literally hops. "Hola, Noah!" she says, energetic but distracted. "Seen the parts yet?"

"No," I say. "Too big of a crowd."

She gives me a disdainful look. "Eres loco, crowds are for babies!" She steps into the crowd, shoving people right and left. Eventually, they started to part like the Red Sea. Cody trots behind her like a puppy (as usual) and Gwen and I also follow.

With one look at the list, Bria starts to jump up and down, squealing with joy. "Yo soy Anita, yo soy Anita!" she sings. Suddenly, the celebration stops, and she groans. "Dammit, Lindsay! Se que Linsday no es muy bien cantante, pero … Ugh! Thought she had a chance."

"What?" Cody asks. Bria stabs an angry finger at the list, next to Lindsay's name. "Velma Jet Dancer Three, Anita's understudy," he reads. "Bummer," he says, with little conviction.

"I know!" she whines, totally missing his lack of enthusiasm.

"What did I get?" he asks, moving her finger out of the way. "Peepee," he reads.

Bria giggles. "That's Pepe. Say it Peh-pay!"

I wait, slightly impatiently, behind the couple. Gwen however, is not so patient. "Could you two move it?" she asks, slightly huffy

Bria bounces out of the way, tugging Cody along with her. Gwen and I take their places, and scan the list.

I start from the bottom and read up. Okay, Kiki's Jet Dancer Number Five, thank god. I don't have to listen to her sing. Nina's Jet Dancer Four and the understudy to Maria. DJ got Bernardo.

"Who's Chino?" Katie asks, leaning over my shoulder to read the list. Gwen laughs.

"He's one of the Shark gang members," she explains.

Katie blinks a few times. "I'm a guy?" she asks incredulously.

Hey, there were definitely not enough good guy singers to fill all the parts. And she _does _have a rather low voice for a girl.

I turn my attention back to the list. A-Rab is that Russ guy, Geoff is Action, and Duncan is Riff. (HA! Of course, he got the main lead part besides Tony.)

That leaves Tony.

And there my name is, in black and white, next to Tony's.

Cool.

"Cool, I got Maria," Gwen says happily. "Congrats, Tony!" she says, flashing me a small smile.

* * *

_Later..._

* * *

_So now, we're all sitting in the den of the dorm, watching West Side Story. How this happened exactly….._

* * *

"So, wanna watch a movie?" I say, suggesting something for Gwen and me to do. I'd rather stay out of my room (the happy couple has invaded) and I don't have any homework.

Gwen's already engrossed in the massive pile of DVD's they have. "Hey! They have the new Killer Maniac movie!" She holds up some slasher, kill 'em all, horror, gore-fest movie. Joy. I _really _want to spend a few hours of my life watching that.

Yeah. So not.

"Not my taste," I say casually.

"Who doesn't love a good killing fest!" Gwen says, excitement in her voice. I search her face for a sign of joking and find none.

"Well, a lot of people," I say dryly.

"C'mon, it has _zombies _in it!" She's already popping the DVD into the player. The movie starts, and we both make ourselves comfy on the couch.

Oh look, the cliché "woman going to investigate noise and meets serial killer." One down, lots more to go.

Another five minutes into the movie, four more people are dead. It's actually kind of a creepy movie. Okay, yeah, I'm a bit scared. Just a bit.

Only a bit.

God, did that person's head just seriously roll down the stairs?

"Hi!" Lindsay says suddenly, startling me.

I start suddenly and Gwen laughs. She pauses the movie. "You just jumped about a foot into the air!" she says, snickering. "Too scary for you?"

I roll my eyes and deign not to give that one an answer. Lindsay sits on the couch and gives me a tentative smile. "Whatcha watching?" she asks.

"Killer Maniac Four: Revenge of the Zombie Ax-Murderer," Gwen responds. She presses the play button savagely, and sits back to watch the movie.

"Oh…." Lindsay says quietly.

Onscreen, the aforementioned zombie ax-murderer creeps silently down a hallway. The blonde woman is (of course) showering. The zombie ax-murderer opens the bathroom door and raises his ax. And proceeds to kill her, graphically, with frightening music and plenty of screaming.

Lindsay practically jumps into my lap and I grab the opportunity.

"Gwen, I think this movie's too scary for Lindsay," I say quickly.

She gives me an amused glance. "But yooou're just fine with it, riiiight?"

"Can we just pick a different movie already?" I say, unamused.

She sighs and we all go look at the movie rack. "Hey, they have loads of Disney movies!" Lindsay said excitedly.

"No way," Gwen and I both say in unison.

She pouts and continues looking. "Ooh, they have West Side Story! How 'bout that?"

Gwen shrugs. "I don't have a problem with it."

"Cool!" Lindsay grabs it and puts it in the player.

Less than ten minutes into the movie, the door to the den flies open and Bria tears down the stairs. "I hear West Side Story!" she says breathlessly. She plops down on the couch with us.

Wow, she must have the ears of an owl or something.

Of course, where Bria is, her boyfriend is not far behind. Cody comes down the stairs, slightly less excited than Bria.

Then, Russ comes out of one of the doors off the den. Apparently, there are more rooms back there. Nina comes next, looking for Lindsay. Apparently, Lindsay just came downstairs to get something and got sidetracked. Katie and Sadie come downstairs, someone left the den door open and the whole house can hear us now. Of course, the party wouldn't be complete without Duncan, Geoff, and DJ.

_So now, we're all sitting in the den of the dorm, watching West Side Story. How this happened exactly….._ Some are singing along to the songs and others, namely me, squished on the couch.

Yeah.

Gwen gives me a look saying: "How did we get here again?"

I shrug in silent reply. Next to me, Lindsay shifts a bit, and resumes her intense staring at the screen.

I return my gaze to the screen.

* * *

A/N: Can't wait for the next chapter!


	19. Cracko Jacko

Disclaimer: I own neither TDI nor West Side Story. However, it is perfectly legal to have an obsession with both. Right?

* * *

**Week 1, Rehearsal 1**

**

* * *

**

**Noah's POV**

* * *

Oh, god. It's really sunk in now. I'm a singing, dancing gangster. A freakin' singing, dancing gangster, with friends that randomly break into song and say things like "cracko jacko" and "daddy-o."

"When you're a Jet you…. Stay… a…. Jeeeeet!" the Jet guys sing on-stage.

"Now I know Tony like I know me, and I guarantee you can count him in," Duncan says.

"In, out, let's get crackin'," Geoff says.

"Where ya gonna find Bernardo?" Russ asks.

"At the dance tonight at the gym," Duncan says confidently.

"But the gym's neutral territory," some guy I don't know says.

"Ooh, I'm gonna make nice with 'im," Duncan says innocently. "I'm only gonna challenge him!"

"Great, Daddy-o!" Russ says.

Thank god I'm not in that first number. I don't have to do all that dancing in the beginning. Ugh, I have to _dance_. I forgot about that.

I lean over to Gwen, who's sitting next to me. "How much do you want to bet that gangsters never said stuff like that?" I whisper.

"Nothing," she whispers back. "You'd win."

Onstage, the song ends. "Noah, onstage, you're singing _Something's Coming_," Ms. Tasha orders.

Great, Daddy-o.

* * *

**Lindsay's POV**

**

* * *

**Wow, before this play thing, I totally didn't know that Noah was such a good singer! Maybe they'll dress him up like the Tony in the movie! That would be sooooo great!

I'm playing Velma, so my only lines are "Ooble-ooo." She says it like, four times. I'm wondering if it's really a word. But is "riga tiga tum tum" a word? Anyway, I don't really have much to do during this rehearsal because they're only doing solos right now. I sing mostly backup. So, I'm sitting in the audience, trying to do my math homework. Math is really hard. If I work really really hard in my other classes, I can finish my homework, but I just don't _get _math. I don't know what I'm going to do.

**

* * *

Week 1, Rehearsal 4**

**

* * *

Noah's POV**

* * *

Finally, a dance rehearsal! Okay, yeah, it's a Saturday. Joy. And I have to be here almost all day. But at least I don't have to sing anymore! Err, well, not as much. Okay, I'm really just excited that I don't have to belt out, _There's A Place For Us_ with Gwen anymore. I don't really have to do it, either, because of my foot. Sadly, I'm getting the cast off before the play. Apparently, it wasn't as bad as the doctors thought. So, Ms. Tasha will probably have an aneurysm before the play, trying to teach me the dances. Trust me, I can't dance well.

"Step ball change," Ms. Tasha says in front of us, demonstrating. "Step ball change, turn, turn, jump."

Okay, it sounds simple when she says it, but when you're stuck in a room full of people forgetting which way to turn, it doesn't go so well.

Cries of "Ow!" and "You stepped on my foot!" ring through the dance room we've invaded.

"Focus people!" Ms. Tasha tells us.

"What are you doing?" Kiki yells at Nina. "Do you have two left feet?"

"Kiki, you're supposed to turn _right_," Nina says patiently.

"No, we're supposed to turn _left, _you imbecile."

"It's right."

"Ladies!" Ms. Tasha cries.

"Left!"

"Right."

"Left." Kiki throws her hands up into the air. "Whatever, I'm sure you did it on purpose anyway."

Nina crosses her arms against her chest. "Oh, really? Is that what you think?"

"Ladies!" Ms. Tasha says again.

"Yeah, that's what I think," Kiki says, getting in Nina's face.

"You'll want to take that back," Nina says quietly.

"Um, no, I don't think so, bitch."

"Language, ladies!" Ms. Tasha all but shrieks.

The rest of the rehearsal doesn't go much better, as those two are too focused on glowering at each other to learn the dances well.

**

* * *

Week 2, Rehearsal 7**

**

* * *

Lindsay's POV**

* * *

I have a problem. I totally and completely failed my math test today. Like, I got an F kind of failed. I couldn't answer any of the problems. Even though I spend so much time at these rehearsals doing my math homework, I still don't get it. Maybe I would get it if I had more time to spend doing it, but it's not like I can quit the play. Trust me, Ms. Tasha made that very very clear. We aren't allowed to quit, "under any circumstances other than death."

"Nina!" I say, leaning forward. "I need some help."

She turns around. "What with?"

"I kind of need some help in math," I say slowly.

"I know I can't help you," she says slowly. "Between the play and guard….."

"How _do _you do that? I mean, how do you do both the play and guard?" I ask.

"Weeeeell," she says, dragging out the word. "Our band director and our guard coach both know Ms. Tasha….. so all I had to say was that she kidnapped me, and I automatically got excused. Plus, they're kind of scared of her. Besides, I know all the routines well, so it's okay." She gasps suddenly and smiles. "Wait a second…." She runs over to Bria's seat next to Cody and starts to talk to her earnestly. She turns back to me for a moment, but we're called back onstage to rehearse _Mambo_.

"I'll tell you later," she mouths at me.

The music starts and I leap for my partner, Duncan. Step to the left. Step to the right. Left. Right. Hands up. Grab his hand and sashay across the stage…… Push off his shoulders as he throws me in the air.

"_Mambo!"_

After some more dancing, the fast paced part of the song ends, and we dance off the stage as the quiet that introduces Tony and Maria's first meeting starts.

I peer through the wings as Gwen and Noah step back and forth, staring into each other's eyes. Noah leans forward to kiss her and I suddenly have a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach. I just feel _wrong_.

"I'm going to the bathroom," I mutter to nobody in particular. I feel Nina and Bria's eyes on my back as I leave. In the bathroom, I redo my makeup, something that normally can soothe my nerves. In this case, it doesn't do anything for me, and I reapply my mascara three times without feeling any better.

"Hey, are you okay?" I hear a voice behind me. I jump and nearly poke my eye out.

"Oh, hi Nina," I say, putting my mascara wand away.

"You okay?" she asks, concerned.

I stare into the mirror for a second, and notice that one eye has about twice as much mascara on it as the other. I pull out my mascara wand again. "I just got this terrible feeling watching Gwen and Noah," I explain.

"Ooooh," Nina says, as if this explains everything. I look at her questioningly out of the corner of my eye. "You're jealous," she finally says.

"Is this what it feels like?" I ask, considering it. I guess it makes sense. But Gwen and Noah aren't even together, so I shouldn't be jealous.

"I dunno, I can't feel your emotions for you," she says, shrugging. "But you have a good reason. She pretty and she's good friends with him. Dangerous combination."

"_Is _it?" I ask.

"Mmm," she replies noncommittally. "We better get back before Ms. Tasha has a spazz attack. She sent me to look for you because she wants you to run your lines."

"Ooblee-oo," I say, walking out of the bathroom. Nina follows behind me.

"No, your lines for Maria."

I tilt my head, confused. "But I'm not Maria."

"You're her understudy," Nina says.

"Oh, I meant to ask you what that was!" I say happily.

"So you don't know any of her lines," Nina asks me, her eyebrows raised.

"Am I supposed to?"


	20. Tutor, Interrupted

Disclaimer: I don't own TDI.

* * *

Noah's POV

* * *

"You don't know them," Ms. Tasha says. She takes a deep breath and attempts to control herself. "You don't know your lines?"

Lindsay bites her lip. "N-no."

"But it's not her fault, Ms. Tasha!" Nina interjects. I raise my eyebrows, wondering what excuse she was going to come up with. "She's worried about keeping her grades up! You do know that if her grades get too low, she'll be taken out of the show. Just the other day, she failed her math test!"

Ms. Tasha's worried expression abruptly turns into a worried one. "What can we do about this?" she muses to herself.

"How about you have Noah tutor her?" Nina suggests.

What? What? Whaaaaat?

"That way, he could help her with her lines and tutor her," Nina continues.

Lindsay glances at Nina quickly and nods in agreement. "I'd love that!" she chirps.

"And you, Noah?" Ms. Tasha asks.

"I'm sure he'd love to do it!" Nina says, smiling dangerously at me. Evidently, I'm not allowed to refuse.

"Then it's settled!" Ms. Tasha says happily. She claps her hands together briskly. "Places for the America number, people!"

What have I been forced into now?

* * *

"So this is pi?" Lindsay asks, pointing her pencil at the symbol on the paper.

"Yes," I say, starting to get aggravated. "Didn't your teacher tell you that?"

"Ummmm," she says slowly, tapping her chin. She looks down, obviously trying to remember. Tutoring her has not proved easy so far. We've been at this for about half an hour, and all I've found out is that she doesn't know much math at all. I think she stopped understanding math after grade school. At least I don't need to explain long division to her. She informed me of that fact proudly, and I didn't have the heart to tell her that she could just use a calculator.

"Maybe?" she says unsurely.

I sigh. "Doesn't matter. Try this problem." I scribble a simple problem on the paper. X + 5 = 9. "Solve for x."

She stares at the paper. The pencil goes into her mouth and she starts to chew on it unconsciously. It's sort of an obnoxious nervous habit she has. I would know. My pencil now has plenty of teeth marks on it because of her.

"Solve means I need to find what number x is, right?" she asks.

"Yes."

She continues to stare at the paper intensely while I sit there and wait for her to make a move. There is complete silence in the room. She's not even blinking. This problem does _not _require this much thought. Either she knows how to do it or she doesn't.

"Can you give me a hint?" she finally asks me.

What hint can I give her without telling her how to do it? "You need to subtract," I explain.

"Oh!" she says, comprehension dawning on her face. She bends over the paper and starts to work. After a few seconds, she straightens and smiles at me. "Finished!" she announces proudly.

I glance at her work to check it. Her final answer is x=9. I have absolutely no idea how somebody who's been in class all this time could even get that answer. "No, Lindsay. If you do something to one side of an equation you need to do it to the other side too."

"So if I subtract here I need to subtract there too?" she asks, pointing at the paper with her pencil.

"Ye-" My reply is interrupted by a pounding on the door.

"Hey, is anyone here? C'mon, someone has to be home in this place!" I go to open the door and find Izzy standing there looking desperate. "Ah, thank god Noah! I need some help. Gwen is in her room and I kind of saw Trent go in there but then I heard some yelling and other loud noises and stuff but I can't do anything about it because I'm not really friends with Gwen and she might not let me in to her room but I'm really worried so I was wondering if you could check for me?"

I blink a few times and decipher that tangled mess of a sentence. "Are you sure this is something to be worried about?" I ask. If this is a hoax I will be seriously angry at Izzy. Even angrier than I was before.

She shakes her head violently. "No, why would I lie about something like this?"

I sigh. "Fine. I'll check."

* * *

Lindsay's POV

* * *

I make my way over to the door just in time to see Noah disappear into Gwen's room. I kind of wish he would do the same thing for me. I doubt it though, cuz he hates me. I sigh at that thought and Izzy glances over at me. "How are you two doing?" she asks, grinning widely.

That reminds me of why Noah's mad at me. And it reminds me of who I'm mad at. I frown at her. "Not good because of you."

She crosses her arms and stares angrily off into the distance. "He's _still _holding that against you? Wow, talk about never letting a grudge go."

"He totally has a good reason though!" I protest.

"What I did wasn't that bad," Izzy says, rolling her eyes. "You just don't want to think bad of him because you like him so much."

"He's not bad!" I argue.

"Never said that."

"Good."

Izzy turns her attention to the door Noah disappeared behind. "Hmmmm," she says pensively. "Why's he taking so long? I just sent him in there so I could talk to you."

"That's lying!"

"Not totally. I saw Trent go in there, I just didn't have any reason to be bothered about it." She shrugged. I'm pretty sure that's still lying……

* * *

Noah's POV

* * *

"Why are you in here?" Trent asks, a confused expression on his face.

"Why are _you _in here?" I counter.

"I asked first," Trent says.

"That's a petty reason to get first answer," I say. Much to my amusement, this slightly cryptic statement confuses him even more.

I glance at Gwen, who's staring at me with her eyebrows scrunched together from where she's standing next to Trent. "Trent, why don't you leave?" she suggests.

"Not until you give me an answer!" he exclaims. He rounds on her and grabs her by the shoulders. "I'm serious about this!"

She shrugs his hands off her shoulders and glares at him crossly. "I've already told you before. I'm not interested. Now could you leave?"

He opens his mouth but hastily closes it and leaves the room, taking a quick look at me as he passes. His expression is almost….. suspicious. What does he have to be suspicious of?

Gwen's stormy expression clears up and she turns her attention to me. "What did you want?" she inquires.

"Oh, uh, Izzy sent me in here," I say. "She said you were in trouble."

She raises an eyebrow and smirks at me. "And you rushed in here, Prince Charming?"

"Forget it," I say, rolling my eyes. "I don't need my good intentions mangled by your need to poke fun at me."

"Oh no, good sir, that was not my intent at all," she says, clasping her hands together. "I was simply going to praise your superb and effective way of getting rid of the evil man keeping the princess hostage."

"Oh, you're a princess now, are you?" I say, amused by all of her theatrics. She laughs at herself for a second and smiles at me.

"So what was that about?" I ask, curious about their conversation earlier.

"Oh, nothing really," Gwen says. A serious appears on her face and she bites her lip.

"Nothing?" I say, not believing her in the least.

"He just thinks I'm going to take him back after all this time," Gwen says softly, as if she's talking to herself and not me. "I'm not interested anymore. I like someone else and Trent is old news." She takes a deep breath and pastes a smile back on her face. "Thanks for your concern. I'm going to bed now."

"Oh, okay," I say. I open the door and walk into the hallway. "Night." The door clicks shut behind me and a red and green blur flashes in front of me. My head is jerked to the side by an impact on my cheek.

"You jerk!" Izzy hisses at me. I touch my cheek gingerly where she slapped me. What is _with _her? "Why in the world are you blaming her? She has nothing to do with it!" Izzy rants. "I did it all. I planned it. I was only trying to help her but you blamed her for something _she didn't even do_!" She glares at me vehemently and I can only stare back in bewilderment.

"What are you talking about?" I ask, staring at her.

"I'm talking about how terrible you've been to Lindsay!" she exclaims heatedly. "Why are you holding a grudge?"

"It's none of your business," I inform her, irritated by her confrontation.

Izzy starts to pace back and forth in front of me, looking intensely at the ground, as if it would give her answers. She pauses, and her head jerks back up to stare at me. "Forgive her."

My eyes narrow distrustfully and I shake my head. "Did she put you up to this?"

She lets out a short bark of laughter. "You think she would do something like that?"

"I don't know what to think about her anymore." Was that my voice? I almost sounded…. bitter.

"You know her better than most do," Izzy says, not looking at me. She heads off towards her room and jerks the door open. A crazy Tarzan yell escapes her throat and she dives into the room, headfirst.

Hmmmm. Was that the same person that just scolded for distrusting Lindsay? I almost forgot she was crazy. I shrug to myself and enter my room. Lindsay turns around from her seat at the desk and offers me one of her blinding smiles.

"What happened?" she asks, a concerned expression on her face.

That's when it hits me. Yeah, what Izzy said was corny, but it's also true. How did I even consider the fact that Lindsay conspired to embarrass me like that? Not only does the deed have Izzy's mark on it, Lindsay wouldn't think to do that to someone she's friends with. And now I've got to admit it, she is friends with me.

"Noah?" she says, curious about my silence.

"Oh, nothing really," I say, not really willing to go into detail about everything that's happened to me in the past ten minutes. I touch my cheek, which is still stinging from Izzy's slap. "Shall we continue?"

The rest of the tutoring session goes rather smoothly. Lindsay actually can learn quickly when you push her to do so. Of course, she forgets 75% of what you teach her within five minutes but if you just keep going over it, she eventually remembers. I manage to help her to finish her math homework and I start to go over her test with her. As I'm explaining her major mistakes to her, she lets out a large yawn. The kind that shows that you're not going to be able to function much longer. I sneak a glance at the clock, which reads 12:36.

"Well, I guess we'll finish this tomorrow," I suggest.

"Okay," she says thankfully. She stretches and stands up. We both gather up her papers and books and she starts to leave my room. "Good night," she says.

"Good night," I reply. She steps out of the room and walks towards hers. "Lindsay-"

"Yeah?" She turns around with her hand on her door handle.

Why did I stop her? What do I have to say? "I-" I hesitate, still unsure of what I really want to tell her. Should I apologize? Should I tell her that I found the truth? "I don't hate you," I finally say.

A delighted smile appears on her face, like someone just gave her the best present in the world. "Thanks."

* * *

A/N: Sorry for not writing for so long. My computer broke, which means I lost all the note outlines and other stuff for all of my stories... *sigh*

Review, please! Thanks to everyone who has already reviewed. You guys are awesome! Cookies and hugs for all!


	21. The Sharks, The Jets, A Rumble

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of the Total Drama Island franchise. If I did, do you think I would be on this site?

.... don't answer that....

* * *

Noah's POV

* * *

A few weeks have already gone by after the night I started to tutor Lindsay and was assaulted by Izzy. It's already October, and the frantic countdown to our first performance has started. Ms. Tasha seems to have been imbued with frenetic energy. She rushes around wringing her hands and muttering about things that could go wrong in the performance. At the slightest mistake, she flies into a frenzy where she lectures us on the importance of perfection in showbuz. Her frantic aura seems to have permeated into the rest of the cast, and we are all on edge ourselves. My cast was taken off last week, which means that I have to rehearse dances now as well. That is not going well, I can assure you.

"Okay people, let's run through _The Dance At The Gym_," Ms. Tasha yells. "Segueing straight into _Maria_."

Everyone in the beginning of that number rushes onto stage and gets to their places in a record amount of time. Nobody wants to risk another tirade from Ms. Tasha about getting to our places quickly. Thankfully, I'm not in the beginning of this number.

"Hey babe, ready to dance?" Duncan says, waggling his eyebrows. Lindsay giggles and takes his hand. I just don't see why that kind of thing is necessary. But then again, he flirts with everything female and under thirty.

Ms. Tasha signals our tech guy to "hit it," as she likes to say, the song starts, and the dancing with it. Of course, it takes a disastrous turn quickly.

"What are you doing you idiot!" Kiki screeches. She's standing almost nose to nose with Nina.

"I'm sorry, but you were in my way," Nina explains patiently. She quickly leads her partner away and they continue on with the routine. Kiki glares after her, outraged, while her partner tries desperately to get her to continue dancing. She darts over to Nina and stamps on her foot. "What the hell?" Nina screams, interrupting the dancing completely.

Kiki smiles nastily. "Nobody steps on my foot and gets away with it."

"That was an _accident_!" Nina says exasperatedly.

"Accident my a**."

"Oh, _now _you've pissed me off," Nina informs the ex-cheerleader. "I wouldn't have stepped on your stupid foot if you hadn't been on the _wrong _side of the stage, you moron!"

Everyone starts edging away from them as they go off on their millionth argument. They always find something to argue about during the rehearsals. They can start an argument from the smallest thing. Both of them seem to think that the other is out to get them. This time, however, Kiki really was on the wrong side of the stage.

"Okay, how much do you want to bet that they start trying to beat each other up before the show is over?" Duncan asks. The Jet guys that have gathered in the wings near me shake their heads.

"Hah!" Russ laughs. "I'm not betting against that. No sirreee."

I peer from the wings out into the audience, wondering why Ms. Tasha hasn't done anything about the two yelling at each other onstage. She's sitting in a chair, shaking her head rapidly like she's being struck over the head with some blunt object.

"I'm sure the two of them will work out their differences eventually," DJ says pleasantly. There is suddenly silence from us gang members, as we all stare at him in disbelief. We all start to laugh at him, amused by his overly optimistic attitude.

"Yeah," I manage to get out through my laughter. "And pigs will fly."

Our laughter dies down a bit, and Duncan abruptly sobers up. "Hey! Why are you over here? You're a Shark! Sharkies are all over there." He jerks a finger at the spot where, as he said, the Sharks are gathered. Wow, I never realized this before, but we always separate into our separate gangs when we're at the rehearsals. Huh. But then again, they've also come up with secret gang handshakes and sit on opposite ends of the classroom when they're in the same class.

"Hey!" Geoff bursts out. "Didn't we have something to talk to them about?" He smacks Duncan on the arm, not so discreetly. "Right?"

"Oh yeah!" Duncan remembers aloud. "We've got an idea we want to talk to you about." He and Geoff pull DJ aside and whisper amongst themselves. I almost wonder what they're talking about but I'm quickly distracted by Ms. Tasha emerging from her stupor.

"What do you think you two are doing?" Ms. Tasha screams. I look out on the stage to see Nina and Kiki staring at her with a mixture of fear and sheepishness. "You two are an affront to showbiz! Why I never-!" She continues to rant and rave at the two while the rest of us hang around backstage.

* * *

The Next Day

* * *

"Hey Noah!" Bria yells, waving frantically. She drags Gwen towards me and grabs my hand. "We need to go!" She pulls both me and Gwen away, towards who know where.

I give her a look of confusion. Why would Bria be dragging me around after school? We have half an hour until rehearsal, and I would really prefer to leave my bags and stuff at home.

"Where are we going?" I ask. I receive no answer to this question. Come on! If you're going to kidnap me, at least tell me where we're going.

"Don't bother," Gwen says, a resigned note in her voice. "I couldn't get any answers out of her either. She just kept saying, 'You'll see' in a mysterious voice."

We are dragged through the large area that is the school and finally stop in front of the Café. There, all the gang members in the play are hanging around, Sharks on one side and Jets on the other. The rest of the cast is standing away from them, closer to the side of the building.

"Hey!" Duncan yells, sighting us. "Tony's here!"

"What are you guys doing?" I ask, slightly afraid of the answer.

He grins wickedly at us. "We're having a rumble with these spics!"

Oh no, no, no, no, no.

"Spics?" the guy who plays Luis yells.

"Says the wop," Cody says, with his usual 'self-assured' grin. The Sharks chuckle among themselves and give Cody a couple of high fives.

I glance at Duncan and see him grinning evilly. No, I'm serious, it really is evil. The guy is a really good actor when he applies himself. He snaps his fingers and the whole group of Jets advances towards the Sharks. They get right into their faces and both sides stare at each other for a moment. All hell breaks loose a second later and the two sides start slugging it out with each other.

Wait a second…. No, they aren't. If I look closer, I can see that they're doing the fighting choreography that Ms. Tasha drilled into all of our brains. She really did make it look realistic. It looks like oddly balletic fighting, but fighting nonetheless. People in the Café are staring, probably wondering what they should do about the fight that has broken out outside.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see my English teacher, Mrs. Capelli, advancing towards the scene. At that moment, the guy that plays Officer Krupke darts towards the "rumble."

"Okay, break it up, break it up!" he says authoritatively, his hand on a sheet of rolled up paper he had pushed into his pocket.

"Top of the day, Officer Krupke!" Duncan says smartly.

"Officer Krupke" pulls the paper out of his pocket and smacks Duncan on the head with it. "Don't be smart, boy."

"Oh, I'm almost never smart," Duncan says brightly. "In fact, people always say I'm dumb!" Both the Sharks and the Jets titter for a moment.

"So, which one of ya lousy Puerto Ricans started this?" 'Officer Krupke' asks, rounding on the Sharks.

"Why, none of 'em!" Duncan says, an overly dramatic look of shock and innocence on his face. "We were simply having a good old play fight until our good man Tony got here. And now he's here, we'll be taking our leave." He bows mockingly and starts to walk away, the rest of the Jets behind him. DJ snaps his fingers and the Sharks also start to leave.

Duncan and the Jets pass by Mrs. Capelli and Duncan nods towards her politely. "G'day, Mrs. Capelli. Make sure you come to see the play."

As all the other Jets pass by they also murmur a quick, "G'day, Mrs. Capelli." I shrug and follow after the Jets to rehearsal while Mrs. Capelli stands there, unsure of what just happened.

* * *

Rehearsal that day was actually rather uneventful. Kiki and Nina only got into one small fight, and Ms. Tasha didn't throw a fit. I settle into my desk chair and gather my materials for homework. I have half an hour until Lindsay comes in for tutoring, so I'm hoping to make a sizeable dent in my homework for the night. Before I can even get started, the door to my room opens and Gwen stomps in.

"I hate having a roommate," she declares. She flops onto Cody's bed and groans.

"Just make yourself at home," I say sarcastically.

"Thanks," she says, disregarding the sarcasm. "Like I was saying-"

"Before you go into that, you're sitting on Cody's bed," I inform her.

"And?"

"And that's the bed that he and Bria do-" I pause for a second and consider how to word it. "Whatever it is they do. Use your imagination to fill in the blanks."

Her face twists into a mask of revulsion and she is off the bed in record time. Instead, she settles herself on the floor. "They're a weird couple."

"Tell me about it. I didn't believe it at first," I say. "Personally, I just couldn't accept the idea of Cody with a girlfriend."

"I know," Gwen agrees. "He's just the little brother type. The kind that annoys you to no end but you like him anyway. Actually, he reminds me of my brother."

"I'm sure they'd be great friends if they met. But what were you saying about hating roommates?"

Gwen shudders and laughs shortly. "Well, I'm rooming with Eva. And I just walked into our room and found her making out with Tyler. On my bed."

"Same thing happened to me," I tell her, scowling at the memory. "That's why I have the top bunk now." I look at Gwen, and see that she is looking at me with an odd expression on her face. "What?"

She blinks a few times and seems to shrug off whatever she had been thinking about. "I was just thinking that you're really great."

"Oh," I say, unsure of how to respond to that statement. "Thanks."

"I mean, most people would have been focusing on the fact that Eva was making out with Tyler," she explains.

I roll my eyes. "Well, I'm just not that interested in other people's business. I like to keep my affairs to myself, so others have the right to do so also."

She laughs and flashes me one of her rare genuine smiles. "I'm happy you're like that. I mean, after the whole Team Gwen, Team Trent thing, I wish people weren't so nosy."

Our moment of solidarity was interrupted by the door to my room bursting open. "Oh my god, Noah!" Lindsay screams. "I got an A on my test!" She brandishes a paper triumphantly and runs across the room to show me. "I've never gotten one of those before! I mean, I guess maybe I have, but that was back in elementary school when I still got what they were teaching!"

I take the paper out of her hands and see that it does indeed say A on the top, along with a note from the teacher that reads "Congrats, Lindsay!"

"Oh my gosh, you're like, the best tutor ever!" Unexpectedly, she grabs me in a tight hug. "Thank you so so soooo much!"

"Good job, Lindsay," Gwen says while getting up from the floor. "I'm going to go now. Bye, Noah. I'll talk to you later."

Lindsay lets go of me and watches as Gwen leaves the room quickly. "Was I interrupting something?" she asks.

"Not really," I say casually.

* * *

A/N: OH MY GOSH! 41 REVIEWS! THE MOST I'VE EEEEEVVVVEEERRR GOTTEN! Thanks guys.

I think we need some Lindsay in the next chapter..... Lindsay's POV, I mean.


	22. Two Girls

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Total Drama Island franchise. All credit for the characters must be given to Fresh TV, Cake, and Cartoon Network.

* * *

Noah's POV

* * *

"Hey, what's going on in there?" I say loudly, pounding on my own door. A weird noise comes from inside my room and I try the doorknob. It's unlocked, so I push open the door and burst inside.

The first thing I see is Cody rubbing Bria's back, looking extremely freaked out. "Are you okay?" he mutters repeatedly. The next thing I notice was the pool of throw-up at Bria's feet. I lament for our floor and then turn my attention to the girl being sick in _my _room.

"I am fine," she mutters, pushing Cody away. "It will go away." She rushes out of our room, leaving Cody and I to stare at the mess she had left.

"Wanna help me clean?" Cody says hopefully. I fix him with a glare that clearly says 'your girlfriend, your mess', grab my backpack, and vacate the room.

Once outside, Bria pins me to the wall. What is it with girls and pinning me to walls? First Izzy, now Bria. "Thought you were into Cody," I say dryly. She rolls her eyes, obviously not appreciating my wittiness, and backs up.

"You tell nobody!" she orders.

"About that?" I say, gesturing into the room that was probably going to permanently smell weird now. "Sure, whatever."

"I can still perform tomorrow!"

Oh. That's why she's freaking out. Opening night plus sickness equals not performing. Got it. "Yeah, yeah," I say. "Get some Pepto bismol or something." With that, I head downstairs and leave the building. I have a class to get to, and Bria's sickness is not urgent enough for me to be truly concerned. She probably got sick from something she ate the night before and will recover in less than 24 hours. No biggie.

* * *

My quick recovery time prediction didn't come true at all. Instead, when I came back to the dorm after school to grab my stuff, Bria was holed up in the bathroom. There was a line of angry people standing outside, wanting to get into the only darn bathroom in the building.

Stupid, cheap school.

At this point, I have two options. Either I could stick around and try to help Bria, or I could leave that to the people crowded outside the bathroom and not be chewed out by an extremely angry director. While some may call me heartless, I would rather say that I like to avoid needless confrontations, especially with psycho drama directors the night before opening night. Needless to say, I chose the second option, showed up for rehearsal on time, and was chewed out anyway. Woohoo. Why did I volunteer to explain why Cody and Bria weren't at rehearsal?

Oh, yeah. I couldn't convince any of the other people to do it. So much for all the gang brotherhood that the other Jets had been pushing on me.

After having a major meltdown, Ms. Tasha returned to proclaim that 'The show must go on!' Lindsay, who had been Bria's understudy, now has the part of Anita. After she ordered us to run some of the musical numbers, she realized that because Lindsay can no longer dance in the Jet scenes there is a large hole in all of the dances. Of course, rather than simply ignore it and hope the audience wouldn't notice, Ms. Tasha rearranged all of the scenes that Lindsay had danced in. That decision sends everyone who dances in any dance Lindsay was in- which is almost every number- into complete and utter confusion. I have no idea what side of the stage I'm supposed to be on half the time. The other half of the time, I'm running into someone that's where I'm supposed to be.

"From the top!" Ms. Tasha screams again. "Get it right this time! This is show-biz people! You can't be weak!"

She's snapped.

* * *

Lindsay's POV

* * *

Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh. I'm, like, the second most important in the whole show! I totally can't believe it! I mean, the practice today totally didn't go so great, but isn't there a saying about that or something? Like, a bad practice makes a great performance? I don't know, but whatever.

"Hey, Noah!" I call. He turns around and his hair moves and it's, like, amazing. I mean, he has pretty hair.

"Hi," Gwen says, and I notice that she's totally standing really close to him. I suddenly have this weird pain in my chest, like a really big butterfly just jumped around in there.

"Hi," Noah says, and I giggle. I think I sound cute when I giggle. Maybe Noah thinks I sound cute too. I link arms with him and give him my prettiest smile.

We start walking again and it's really, really quiet. None of us say anything, not even when we get back to the dorm. Gwen keeps giving me these weird looks. Maybe she's trying to send me a message through her eyes. I squint and look at her really intensely, hoping it will mean something to her. I don't get what she's doing. When I give up, I see Noah is looking at me and seems confused.

I don't know what he's confused about, and that confuses me.

"Hey, dude!" Geoff cheers. He slings his arm around Noah's shoulders and grins. I like Geoff. He's really fun. "You're such a ladies' man! Two cute girls walking you back. Woohoo!" He holds his fist out to Noah and Noah rolls his eyes. Then, the two do that cool handshake thing that all the Jet guys do together. Geoff tips his hat to me and smiles. "Later, ladies."

"Night," Gwen says. She smiles, tucks a strand of blue-green hair behind her ear, and goes to her dorm room, leaving Noah and me standing outside his room's door.

"Hey, uh, can I come in?" I ask, not really wanting to leave for some reason.

"Why?" he says.

Um…Yeah, I didn't really have a reason. I just wanted to but I better come up with a reason! "To talk to… Cody!" I finally come up with.

"Oh," he says, opening the door. He looks disappointed. Was that one of those trick questions that I don't know the answers? I thought I had totally gotten smarter!

Inside, Cody is lying on his bed. I flop into the chair and smile at him. "Hey, Cody," I say.

"What's up?" he says, giving me one of his adorable little gap-toothed smiles. He totally reminds me of my stepmom's cousin! They both have that gap in their teeth! But Brad is, like, fifty and is sort of overweight.

"Nothing," I say. We sit there silently for a little before Noah breaks the silence.

"Wow, this is a scintillating conversation," he says dryly.

"Oh my gosh, I know what that word means!" I gush, really excited that Noah can use a smart word around me.

"What does it mean, Einstein?" he asks. That sounds like one of those times when he uses sarcasm. But I don't really know if he is or not, so whatever.

"It means, like, witty," I say proudly.

"Good job," he says. Then, he totally smiles at me. Like, a real smile that looks really happy, not like those smug smiles he gives everyone.

"So are you two dating?" Cody asks, sitting up.

"No," Noah says quickly. Noah looks really cute and embarrassed! Does that mean he likes me? Or does he not like me? Or maybe he said no really fast because he doesn't like me at all and doesn't want people getting the wrong idea. "So what's up with Bria?" he asks.

"Oh, she's sleeping in her room." Cody says. "She was really depressed about not being about to perform tomorrow."

"I'm sure she'll be better for the next performance," I say, hoping to cheer Cody up. He looks a little sad himself.

"Yeah, maybe," he replies.

* * *

Noah's POV

* * *

I had tried to get a start on some homework, but that went almost nowhere. Lindsay kept walking in for reasons unknown to me. I finally suggested that she should get her beauty sleep for the show tomorrow and she did that cute giggle smile thing that she does and ran off.

When I've finally put a small dent in my paper, I hear the door open again. "I thought you were going to sleep?" I ask.

"When did I say that?" Gwen says.

"Hi, Gwen," I say, turning around to see her standing in my doorway. "Thought you were someone else."

"Can I talk to you, outside?"

I nod and Cody raises his eyebrows at me, hinting at something not-so-subtly. I roll my eyes at him and follow Gwen out the door.

* * *

A/N: Wow, it's been a really long time. Sorry for disappearing from the fanfic world everybody. I've been really busy, but now that it's summer I have a lot more time on my hands. This is the penultimate chapter, so everybody be on the lookout for my final chapter. It'll be up soon! And then maybe you'll get the resolution to my cliffhanger.


	23. Lindsay Plus Noah Equals Love

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Total Drama Island.

**This is it people! The _FINAL CHAPTER!_**

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Noah's POV

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"I was just wondering," Gwen says, her face unusually pink under the white powder. "Would you like to go out sometime?"

I lose control of my face for a moment. Before responding, I try to rearrange it into a more suitable, less shell-shocked expression. "Like… on a date?"

Bravo. I've come up with yet another pearl of wisdom. That comment didn't sound astonished at all.

Not.

For some reason, my idiocy makes Gwen more comfortable. She laughs and her face returns to is deathly pallor. "Yeah, like a date."

If I were a cartoon character, my eyes would be popping out of my head. Is it just me? Do I ignore signs of girls liking me? I wish I had _known_ Gwen liked me. But will I seriously date her? I don't know if I want to do that. It's too sudden and Lindsay-

Oh. I'm thinking about Lindsay while Gwen is asking me out. If that isn't a clear sign of something, I don't know what is. Noah, it's time to stop being in denial, and time to realize that you have a thing for the blonde, ditzy, strangely smart, sincere, beautiful girl. Which means, you need to turn Gwen down.

"Sorry, no," I say. "I already have someone I like." Maybe that will cushion the blow.

Gwen looks mildly disappointed and shrugs. "Lindsay?" she asks.

Did everyone else know before me? "Well, uh," I say, considering lying.

She waves me off. "You don't need to tell me. Stay in denial or whatever."

"I'm not in denial," I protest.

She's already heading towards her room. I get a goodbye wave from her and then she's gone. I stare in the direction of her room for a minute, still a little stunned, before spinning around and entering my room. Cody gives me a quizzical look, but I ignore him and fall into bed. Now was not the time to be contemplating love interests. I had schoolwork, opening night jitters, and a crazy drama instructor on my back. There were more pressing- and less mind-boggling- things to be worrying about.

The morning came quickly enough. The day zipped by too, despite the complaints of my fellow thespians about how slow the day was going. I never got a chance to go back to the dorm before the show. If Ms. Tasha saw us sit down for anything more than five seconds, we were sent to move a costume or find someone for her or any of the other useless tasks she could think of. We had another run through of the show, which went much better than the rehearsal the night before.

The auditorium starts to fill up around seven and all the people acting in the show start hanging around the wings in costume. Lindsay and Katie keep sneaking looks into the audience, whispering about how many people are there. Lindsay lets out an excited squeak that gets everyone's attention.

"Oh my gosh!" she whisper-yells. "Daddy's in the audience! I totally can't believe it!"

Every person from Total Drama Island runs for the curtain to see if their parents are there, me included. One horrified glance is all I need to confirm that my giant family is indeed in the audience. They're easy to pick out. There's just a ridiculous amount of people related to me in the audience. I groan.

Ms. Tasha blows a gasket when she sees us in the wings and practically chases us in the dressing rooms. We're only allowed back when the show is about to start.

The curtain opens to singing, dancing gang members. The quality soon takes a huge dive towards terrible suck-fest. Most of the people in Total Drama are hideously embarrassed about their roles, especially because we were counting on our parents not being here. Duncan ceases to be the gangster actually written in the musical and starts rewriting lines to make them sound cooler. DJ smiles at his Momma every few seconds, forgetting completely about his lines in the first place.

In the first scene with the Jets, Geoff was supposed to suggest that they'd have a rumble. Of course, he never says anything. Instead, he stares blankly into the audience while Duncan jabs him with his elbow. Eventually, Duncan takes things into his own hands.

"Yo, dudes, we can't have these little sh*ts in our territory," he says, sneering at the audience. I can see Ms. Tasha having a heart attack in the left wing. "We gotta jump 'em with guns and stuff. They won't be coming back here no more."

"Daddy-O," Geoff says weakly, realizing that he missed his line.

"Or tonight at the dance we could talk them into having a rumble," the guy who plays A-Rab put in quickly. "And we could get Tony to come too!"

"Who needs Tony?" Geoff says, trying to redeem himself by returning to the script.

Duncan punches Geoff in the arm, obviously not ready to go back to the script. "Tony is my man, dude. Don't diss him."

"Tony hasn't been with us in over a month," Geoff replies, still trying to get back to the script. With that line, it was back on track. Well, except for the fact that the orchestra has no idea where we are anymore so everyone stood around silently for a while waiting for them to play the intro to the next song.

The dances are even worse than the dialogue. At one point, Nina and Kiki got into a large shoving match in the middle of the stage. Who knows who was even in the wrong place? I'm spending most of my time trying to figure out what I'm supposed to be doing.

It gets to the point where everyone runs off into the right wing when they need to get off-stage, regardless of what side they were supposed to exit to. Ms. Tasha is standing in the left wing, waiting to ambush each and every performer and give them an angry talking to.

Needless to say, I'm embarrassed to be a part of this show.

* * *

Lindsay's POV

* * *

I don't think the show is going so great. Actually, it reminds me of that one team at that cheerleading competition that totally couldn't remember any of their dance moves. They dropped one of their girls on her head!

During the intermission, we're all sitting in one of the dressing rooms when Ms. Tasha stomps in. She yells something about how we were insulting the very fabric of showbiz. I don't get the fabric comparison. She storms out, leaving us to think about what she said. I don't think anybody is really thinking about what she said.

"I think we should ditch," Duncan says, downing a Coke he bought from the vending machine behind the building.

"Seriously, this sucks, dudes," Geoff agrees.

Noah rolls his eyes. "Duncan, you're most of the reason this sucks so much. You cursed at the audience."

Duncan smirks and takes another swig of Coke. "Hey, keeping it real."

"If we're pointing out the people that made this suck, Nina's dancing is killing us!" Kiki says meanly.

"Oh, shut up," Nina replies. "You were the one in my spot."

Kiki throws her arms in the air dramatically and stomps out of the dressing room. I sigh quietly and sneak a glance at Noah. He's sitting at one of the tables with his head resting in his hand. He catches me looking at him and I look down at my lap quickly. I try to sneak another quick glance and I see him looking at me.

"Places people!" Ms. Tasha yells, running back into the room. "Has anyone seen Kiki? We need her for I Feel Pretty!"

"She ran out earlier," I pipe up.

Ms. Tasha swears with some bad words that _I_ don't even know and darts out of the dressing room. I think everyone forgot about ditching the show then. We all ran for the wings, hoping not to get Ms. Tasha any madder. She eventually found Kiki and pushed her onstage before the curtain rose.

Gwen, Kiki, Nina, and I are standing in what's supposed to be Maria's bedroom. The scene quickly becomes a disaster. Nina forgets an important line. Neither Gwen nor I could remember what it was exactly and Kiki looks like she was about to burst out laughing. The orchestra started to play "I Feel Pretty" after about a minute of silence.

In the middle of the dance, Kiki accidentally-on-purpose hits Nina in the face with her elbow. Nina grabs her arm and the two start to fight in the middle of the stage. Gwen and I stand around and sing the last chorus uncertainly. "_I feel stunning, and entrancing, feel like running and dancing for joy…_"

It's really quiet after the song ends. Gwen and I don't know what to do about the two girls fighting on the stage and the audience seems to have even stopped breathing. I look to the left and send Noah desperate _HELP ME PLEASE! _ messages with my eyes. He pushes Katie onstage, which sort of makes sense because she was supposed to come on next. But I'm not supposed to be there anymore when she does come and neither are Kiki and Nina.

"Maria?" Katie said in a deep voice.

Gwen stares at her disbelievingly. "Uh, yeah?"

"Help us break those two up?" I whisper, hoping nobody in the audience can hear me. I hear some giggles from the front row. The three of us together manage to pull Kiki and Nina off each other. They stand on the stage, glaring at each other intensely.

"Hey, uh, Tony killed your brother," Katie blurts out. She runs off the stage, obviously not wanting to be there anymore. Which was a problem, because she was supposed to have gotten the gun to kill Tony later.

"Your gun!" DJ says, not so quietly. "You needed to get the gun!"

She runs back out again at the same time Noah steps onto the stage. We all stand still for a moment, unsure of why so many people are standing on the stage. "I came back to get the gun," Katie explains to Noah.

"Maybe you should leave?" I suggest unsurely.

"I need the gun," Katie repeats. She doesn't move from where she's standing and pushes the cap hiding her long hair down on her head more securely. "Why are you here?"

I look for something to say that would work for my character. "Um, I'm talking to Maria about that boy," I say, pointing at Noah.

"I'm going to kill him," Katie says helpfully.

"Don't kill him, Chino," Gwen put in flatly. "I love him."

"I can't kill him right now," Katie replies. "I don't have the gun." She rocks from side to side and stares at each of us, hoping somebody had something to say.

"It's over there," I say, pointing at the place in the set that the gun had been stashed.

Katie dashes across the stage to grab the gun. Once she has it, she just looks more confused. Why wouldn't she kill him now? Seriously, that made, like, no sense.

"Don't kill him," Gwen repeats. "I love-" She trails off and rolls her eyes. "Ah, screw it. He doesn't even like me."

"He totally likes you!" I put in. "I mean, yeah, he killed your brother, but he totally fell in love with you at first sight. It's _so_ romantic!"

"He likes you," Gwen responds. She stares at me coldly and I'm not sure if she's acting anymore. "Lindsay," she adds under her breath.

I clap my hands excitedly. That would be, like, so amazing if it were true! "Is that true, Noa-," I pause and bite my lip. "Tony?"

There's complete silence in the theatre. Noah stares at the audience and smirks. "Yeah."

The audience gasps and I ignore them. I walk towards him, wrap my arms around his neck, and kiss him. Yeah, so Anita wouldn't do that in the play. But whatever, I think the play stank already. He kisses me back and I know I totally ruined the play. It is _so_ worth it.

I step back out of the kiss and beam at him before running off stage. I beckon for everyone else on the stage who isn't supposed to be there to follow me. A whole group of people file after me, leaving Gwen and Noah on the stage alone. They sing their love song, but Gwen sounds like she's about to start giggling uncontrollably during the entire thing. When I go back onstage for my duet with Gwen about how much she loves Tony, the audience keeps laughing. I think it's pretty funny too. Ms. Tasha's glaring at me from the other side of stage. It doesn't even bother me because I'm on Cloud Eleven.

Eventually, we get through the rest of the play and Katie shoots Tony. She sticks in a line about being too nervous earlier to do it. We all try to look sad when all we want to really do is laugh. The curtain closes and we get a few polite claps.

I grab Noah's hand and he smiles at me. One of those adorable real smiles, not the sarcastic smirk. "Want to go see our families?" I ask.

"Not particularly," he says dryly, but I don't think he means it.

We walk backstage, where I'm sure my Daddy will be waiting. I'm super happy it's all okay now with Noah. Plus, it's not just okay, it's totally amazing. And now that Noah has, like, more than forgiven me, I can totally forgive Izzy. I'll do that when I see her next. For now, I'm going enjoy my new boyfriend. Oh my gosh, I can call him my boyfriend.

Noah's my boyfriend.

This is my boyfriend, Noah.

Noah + Lindsay = Love

OMG!

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A/N: Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed reading this series as much as I enjoyed writing it. I appreciate all the reviews you guys have left me. (Over 40! WOOT!)

Now, at the risk of sounding desperate and pathetic, go on and check out one of my other stories if you want. (Especially this one: **Interning for the Devil**)


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